Alight
by AkwardChit
Summary: First person narrative of Prince Erik of Fordane, set in the world of Frozen. As Elsa has the power of ice, he has the power of fire, though his powers manifest themselves in very different ways. How Elsa and Erik interact, whether or not they are separated or are aware of their effects on each other, will hopefully be as much of an adventure for you as it was for me.
1. Part 1, Chapter 1

**Part One - Prequel**

I.

It was time. After so many years, it was finally time. There was no way I'd be in line for the throne in my own kingdom, my brother would make sure of that. Not that I minded. I mean, he'd been training with father since before I was even born; he knew a lot more about leading than I did, and it was probably best for the kingdom. I couldn't doubt for a second that Joakim would be as kind and understanding a king as he was a brother, and he's older anyways, so he could handle all of that responsibility. He always had to be responsible, and smart, and wise.

But that day wasn't about him. That day was about _me_. I had finally come of age, and that day I could finally have an important event of my own. That day, I would have the marriage my brother had almost six years prior. No, that day had nothing to do with my brother. _I_ was getting married!

I woke up from my contemplation to find myself in the men's dressing room, in full royal regalia, and with servants combing my hair and polishing my shoes. I waited as patiently as I can, which wasn't too well, I'll admit; the longer I waited, the more anxious I got, both in the anxiety of fear and that of excitement and anticipation, which both began swirling around inside me.

Then a thought crashed on me: what if marriage isn't what I expected it to be? What if, after creating a fantastic vision of grandeur commensurate to my brother's actual marriage, I found that I wasn't cut out for it – whatever it may be? What if Joakim knew something that I didn't, and in my ignorance I didn't realize that my father made the wrong choice? The fear inside me began burning, and I felt my face heat up.

Then again, what did I have to show for these fears? Nothing – I was basing them off of nothing – they were obviously unsubstantial. I could have a perfectly happy marriage, just like my brother. No, mine would be even better than his, if only because it was my turn to experience what to him was probably stale after six years.

"Erik?" my father interrupted the pyroclastic flow of my thoughts, and thankfully prevented it from rolling over my composure. "It's time, your bride will see you now."

I pulled myself together and walked half-ecstatically and half-cautiously to the door of the dressing room. I followed my father into the grand hall, which was filled to the brim with the random assortment of nobles and royals that I was accustomed to associating with Joakim. Some were fat, some were thin, some were bald, and one had more hair in a beard than the rest did on their heads. In the front were two great golden chairs, each with a streak of rubies running along the side of it. I saw my father nod me onwards, so, as gracefully as I could, I walked over to the closer of the two chairs and took a seat, and began to scan the audience for faces.

Immediately, I saw my brother's face prominently in the front row, with a spot for father on one side and his wife on the other. She wasn't an extremely beautiful woman, nor was she a particularly ugly one. All of her features, and most of her traits were like that: average, and unremarkable. Not with blonde hair, but not very dark hair either; not a crooked nose, but not a very straight one either; not shy, but not very loud either. One could only have explained her connection with Joakim after knowing her caring. If all but one thing about this woman was plain, it was her ability to care. She cared about her husband, his duties, his father, and his brother. She saw me looking at her and smiled at me understandingly, silently saying that it was okay to be nervous. The butterflies in my stomach started warming up again, so I looked the other way.

Past the seat reserved for dad, which he now occupied, was the empty seat always reserved for mom. I don't exactly know what happened, as I was just barely born when she vanished, but Joakim and father always got too upset by the thought of that tragic time, so I never asked. All I remember of her was a warm smile and a warmer embrace.

On the other side of the priest who would marry me sat the other family, from Arendelle. I saw a mother and a sister, and an empty chair next to that, which I had to assume was for the father, the King of Arendelle. Suddenly, I heard a voice to the right and flicked my attention to it.

"But I don't want to! You can't- you can't do this, what if I hurt someone?"

"Calm yourself, Elsa. Panicking won't solve anything. Just keep calm. Besides, you haven't even met him yet, what if you like him and he likes you back?"

"Exactly! What if! I can't marry a guy I haven't even met! What if he hates me or controls me after he finds out! What if he makes me do horrible things to you! To you or mom or Anna!" The room got noticeably chillier, but I was glad that I wasn't the only one who felt noticeably more awkward.

"Elsa, that's enough! You don't think your mother and I just drew a name out of a hat, do you? We looked for someone _you _would like, and would like you back, regardless of what he knows about you. Do you not trust us?"

A heavy, depressed sigh followed. "Okay."

Then the girl walked out, in a formal teal dress, with her blonde hair tied up neatly on her head. She walked regally to the chair beside me, and sat down, folding her gloved hands across her lap. I wanted to get a glance at her face, or at least talk to her, but the priest jumped up so hurriedly when Elsa sat down that any initial amount that I moved or talked would have looked awkward.

But I didn't care. She turned to look at me, at the same time that I turned to her anyways, and we stared at each other. I didn't know what I was doing, whether I was scanning her for flaws or deciding if this counted as love or just awe, and I got the feeling that she was the same way. We didn't pay much attention to what the priest was saying; I just kept staring into her crystalline blue eyes, and her into my swirling brown ones. I felt my core heating up, and felt an energy in her, as if in response. We mindlessly allowed the priest to marry us, and were deaf to the half-hearted hoorays of the audience, who I am sure had no idea whether we were love-struck or immensely confused. To be honest, neither did we.

My brother's hand finally broke the trance. "You doing okay there, Erik? Here let me help you up – and of course you too, Princess Elsa."

"I need to be alone." She spoke quietly but resolutely, something that I had not yet gained the composure to do. I simply sat in my chair, bewildered at what just happened, feeling my face get hot, as Elsa walked away and Joakim got me out of my chair. He could tell there was no way that I could anything for the rest of the night, so he walked me to my room. I plopped onto my bed without coaxing, and quickly fell asleep, my emotions blazing inside me with both the warmth of a campfire and the sting of boiling oil.


	2. Part 1, Chapter 2

II.

I gasped awake late the next morning, covered from head to toe in sweat. I sat panting in my bed for a couple minutes while I tried to recall the events of last night. I'm married now, to Princess Elsa of Arendelle. And she either likes me, or…

Joakim knocked on the door. Broken from thought, I asked who it was, even though I knew. Apparently he knew that I knew, and before I knew it he was by my bed.

"Hey, c'mon, sleepyhead," He smiled caringly. "You have a wife to treat to breakfast."

My head cleared up and a smile grew on my face to match his. He was right, what did I have to be worried about? I didn't feel sick in my sweat, just a little warm, but nothing a good shower couldn't fix. Besides, a little food was probably all I needed to make what happened last night make more sense.

I took a quick, hot, refreshing shower in the bathhouse and changed into better clothes before heading down to the dining hall for what I felt was going to have to be a lunch, seeing as it was only a quarter to noon. On my way there, I happened to cross the corridor leading to the rooms in which the guests from Arendelle were staying.

"Are you ready yet? Lunch is starting pretty soon!" I heard a voice say. I assumed it was that of Elsa's sister. I looked around the corner to see her in front of a room door.

"I already told you Anna, I'm not coming. I can't, and you know I can't. I could barely make it through the ceremony yesterday."

"But Elsaaaaaa," Anna pleaded, "You need to come out now, it's not just me anymore!"

"Listen Anna, if I can't come out for my own sister, then what makes you think I even want to come out for a complete stranger that I just met yesterday? Tell everyone that I'm not coming."

Frustrated, Anna turned away from the door, inadvertently spotting me in the process. "Prince Erik! Hey, Prince Erik! Over here!"

I wanted to walk on to the dining hall and pretend not to hear her, but it was too late. "Yes?"

"Come here and talk to Elsa, she's really being stubborn this time. Not to say that she's a stubborn person, she's perfect! For you… and…" Anna blushed uncomfortably. "Just get her to come to lunch, okay?" With that, she walked away, leaving me alone with my wife.

"Elsa?" I spoke softly, not wanting to disturb her as much as her sister had.

"Who is it?"

I paused long enough to make my answer sound strange. "Erik. Prince Erik of Fordane. Your husband."

The temperature dropped a bit, and a puff of wind blew out from under the door. "What about it?"

"We should probably go and eat our first meal together. Get to know each other. You know, we might just be spending quite a while with each other. We – I was hoping you would come with me to the dining hall, and we could have something to eat. If you're ready." Proud of my speech, I waited for a reply.

"Well, I'm not ready."

"When will you be ready? All of Fordane is waiting for you." This wasn't going as well as I'd hoped, and I was getting confused.

"Never. I don't expect you to understand, but I have to stay in here, and when we go home to Arendelle, in my room. For your safety, and for the safety of the people of Arendelle and Fordane." She choked a bit on her words at the end.

By now I was terribly baffled, but I didn't want to make her feel any worse than she sounded. "What if I came in? Then you won't have to leave the room. Besides, someone has to bring you food, don't they?"

"My parents will take care-" Elsa froze mid sentence. A tense pause later, she resumed, "of it. They always do. But if you… No, my parents will take care of it."

I still had no idea what Elsa was talking about, and it was beginning to get to me. I could feel my face getting red, my hands starting to sweat, and my feet getting warm. I wanted to tell her to give me a straight answer immediately, but I held myself back. "Well, I'm sure your parents can take care of you just fine. I still want to meet you, though. Just let me know when you're ready."

And with that I left, to have lunch in the same way that I always had, spare a few guests from Arendelle.


	3. Part 1, Chapter 3

III.

After almost a week without hearing a word from Elsa or speaking a word back, father asked me to help the servants start packing for my move to Arendelle. I was aware that traditionally the princess moves to the prince's kingdom, but father explained that since Elsa was the crown princess of Arendelle, and I wasn't the crown prince of Fordane, I would have to leave. I didn't say anything else about it, nor did he say anything else to me. I had felt so drained that whole week, and I was just happy to finally be numb enough to ignore my desire to talk to her.

Suddenly and sharply, I realized that what for her was a trip back to Arendelle was for me a departure from my home, my family, and everything that I had ever experienced. I was entering a new segment of my life, a segment with a new castle, and a new dining hall, and a new bedroom. The thought of it was overwhelmingly burning; I didn't want to leave home. I wanted to stay in Fordane with Joakim and his wife and father, whether or not I had a partner. But if I move, then I could have one, just not always with me. It would just take a while to get used to that's all.

Then a guard came into my room urgently, without knocking, derailing my train of thought and the ornament I was wrapping. "I have news for Erik, Prince of Fordane."

"What?"

"Princess Elsa has asked to speak with you."

I felt butterflies flare up in my stomach. I was startled; this was not at all what I was expecting. The guard confirmed that Elsa herself had called me. I knew I thought I wanted to talk to her all week, but what if I felt the same feelings as on the day I first talked to her? Even worse, or better, what if I felt like I did on the day of our wedding? A spine-tingling wave of heat ran through my body as I absently nodded yes to the guard and started walking. When I got there, I waited for a while, and then knocked.

"Elsa?"

She didn't respond. I was beginning to feel nervous, so I called again.

"Elsa?"

The door cracked open just a little. "Come in."

Cautiously, I entered the room. I suddenly felt a sharp cold, but warmed back up in a matter of seconds. I gathered the courage to look at her.

Elsa was wearing the same outfit she had on at our wedding. The same dress, the same hairstyle, and the same crystal blue eyes. We stared at each other for a while, until I broke the silence.

"So, you're ready now?"

Elsa winced, just slightly, but responded, "No. I just felt like I needed to talk to you in person." She paused for a while, fidgeting with her gloved hands what looked like an ice cube. Suddenly, she jumped up off of her bed and made for the closet, and slammed the door behind her once inside. "Oh, this was mistake! This was a mistake! Why do you do this, Elsa, why?"

By now, the room became really cold; I could see my breath billowing in black clouds in front of me. But I was determined to talk to this girl, whether or not it had to be through a door.

"You were saying?"

I could hear her trying to pull herself together, and found that I was doing the same. Now that there was a barrier between us, she sounded a lot more comfortable.

"Conceal it, Elsa." She took a deep breath. "I was saying, I need to talk to you before getting on any ship. You must be confused as to why I keep hiding myself from you. I don't just stay away from you, though. I have nothing against you, personally. I can't have anything against you, I hardly know you. I have to stay away from everyone, for their safety." She sounded as cold and fearful and helpless as I have ever heard anyone sound at the same time. I needed to lighten the mood.

"You know what? I think a nice fire should do the trick. Maybe you're just feeling a little cold." I waited for an answer to my invitation.

"No." She said it sharply and with force. It gave me chills; I shuddered, feeling my spine shiver as if I had just fallen into an icy lake. "You obviously don't understand. You can't understand, why did I think you could understand? Just know this: you are technically my husband, and I acknowledge that. You are now technically in line to be King of Arendelle, and I acknowledge that. But you can't come near me. My sister can't come near me, and neither can you. I don't want to hurt you, or anyone else. That's all." Her stress manifested itself in a sigh that swept the room from under the closet door.

I felt empty. I was hoping to form a connection with Elsa, not destroy any chance of having one. I slumped onto the floor, my back against the closet door. I heard Elsa do the same on the other side. I felt myself warming up again; my breath was a series of puffy black clouds, and my hands and feet were tingling with heat. All those times in my life when I looked forward to a marriage as fulfilling as my brother's were resurfacing. I didn't expect this; I didn't want this. But my worst fears were being realized, and I was going to have to deal with them. I was going to have to deal with Elsa.

I wanted her in my life. I wasn't sure if I needed her specifically, though, or just someone with whom I can share anything I wanted to share. I needed someone to talk to. Father was always too busy being King, and for the years Joakim had had a wife, he had spent most of his time – and his shared most of his secrets – with her. My face turned red, and my chest swirled with a flame that felt like heartburn. I needed to let it go, let all of my feelings go, to someone who would listen, and care.

"Are you gone yet?" Elsa's weary voice brought me back to reality.

"No, not yet. Elsa?"

No response.

"Elsa?"

"What?"

"Look, you don't want to talk to me right now. It's okay, I understand. Really. I get it; you need me to leave, not because you want me to, but because you need me to. I can't say I know why you want me out, but I can tell you this much: I trust you."

She held her breath, trying unsuccessfully to cover up a small gasp.

"I trust you. I wish that I could be selfless enough for that to be sufficient reason for me to go. But, as much as I hate to say it, I am selfish. I can't put your feelings before mine, or even your needs before mine, not because I don't care about you, but because I am too selfish. I wish I could be like you, and give up everything I want or need for the sake of others. But I can't; I'm selfish, and I need someone to talk to. I need someone to tell my feelings to, and why I feel them. Could I ask you to make one more sacrifice, and be that person?"

I have no idea how long I waited for a response. I could feel her mulling it over through the door, and thought I heard her sniffle a bit. I just sat silently in my little puddle – not only the puddle of thoughts my mind had become, but also a literal puddle of melted frost that was beginning to dampen my pants. I didn't actually hear her say yes, but I also didn't hear her say no, so I started spilling out my thoughts anyways.


	4. Part 1, Chapter 4

IV.

"When I was little, I would do everything with my brother. I'd wake up at the crack of dawn and then run over to his room, and jump on top of him with a big smile. He would look annoyed, but almost instantly, the same excited smile would appear on his face. After rushing through breakfast we would spend the summer day playing in the garden, dropping frogs on the guards or splashing in the fountain or seeing who could throw a stone the farthest. Inevitably, Joakim would always be called in before lunch to start his studies for the day, and technically I was supposed to study also. But my sessions didn't last nearly as long as his, and I spent most of my time with the tutor daydreaming about what Joakim and I would do the next morning. I would wait in the hallway for Joakim's lessons to end, and then we would go wash up for dinner, where father would always ask us about our day. We would talk for hours, well past the time we actually finished eating, and father would send us to bed when the conversation became more of me yawning than of us talking. I would lie in bed, and would fall asleep to my brother's wild impromptu bedtime stories.

"Those summer months still make me feel like I had a perfect childhood, and sometimes I have to remind myself why I didn't. I was a very sick child, especially in the winter. I wasn't a sickly child, nor was I constantly with a cold. In fact, I never really felt sick in the common sense of the word, but that's what Joakim and my father would tell me; I was sick. As far as I can tell, I just had a constant fever, and got sweaty a lot. But more than anything, when my sickness would break out, I felt hot: my face and my feet and the tips of my fingers would pulse with heat, and my stomach would be a nauseating ordeal I can only describe as a cross between heartburn and gaseousness. I would occasionally go to vomit into the fireplace, like my father always told me to if I felt sick to my stomach, but I don't recall actually ever vomiting. My brother would sit with me next to that hot fireplace, which somehow me feel better even when I felt hot. There were no lessons during the winter, and the garden was always iced over, so Joakim and I spent our whole day in front of that fire, while he comforted me to try and ease my misery.

"The bouts of sickness began to be less severe by the winter of my thirteenth year, and when I was fifteen, I was well enough in February to attend my brother's wedding. After the priest officially married him and his wife, they walked straight to the ballroom and hit it off almost instantly. The whole night, they led every dance, and even after all the guests had left they were still talking. When I woke up the next morning, I found them still talking to each other. They had such an intense chemistry, almost as much as we…" My throat closed up, but though Elsa hadn't said anything, I felt her urging me to go on. I backtracked and cleared my throat, took a deep breath, and picked up again as best I could.

"Well, anyways, that night, the first night after Joakim's marriage, we all sat in the dining hall for a grand dinner to welcome his wife. I don't remember what we were eating, but I know it was just about the most delicious thing I had ever had. Joakim and his wife and my father talked about their views on politics or something like that, and I sat there absently listening to the conversation. And then I sneezed.

"Instantly, the sparks hit the table, which burst into flames just as fast. Joakim's wife screamed, and everyone jumped back hard enough to knock down chairs we weren't even sitting in. My father yelled for a servant, and three came rushing in with buckets of water. The fire hadn't spread too far, and the servants were able to put it out. Joakim's wife stared bewilderedly at me from the other side of the table.

"'What the heck was that?' She yelled frantically, 'Who- How did you-?' Before I got a chance to answer, she had fainted, and father sent me to my room. I could see that he was in no mood to joke around, so I left immediately and solemnly, and sat on my bed in thought when I got there.

"It was good two hours until my father cracked open the door to my room. I looked up at him with teary eyes, and he walked over to my bed and sat down next to me.

"'I told her about your sickness.' he said. I looked at him with sad, depressed eyes.

"'Great. Now she's going to think I'm a freak with a disease that makes me sneeze fire.'

"There was an odd little pause before he started talking again. 'She won't think you're a freak. She's part of the family now, she'll understand. She understands your brother's flaws, and someday you will find a person who will understand you on the same… level as your brother and I do. Now, you should probably sleep.'

"My father got up and got out of my room, leaving his words behind for me to dream about for the next six years. That's why-" I found myself stuck again on that day a week ago. But I had told Elsa that I trusted her, and I didn't want to lie to her, or myself, about that. So I pressed on.

"That's why I was anxious on the day of our wedding. I didn't know whether you would accept me for who I am, or if you would be able to nothing behind the smoke coming out of my mouth. I was worried about whether or not you would give me the true, loving sympathy for my sickness that Joakim's wife gives him for his flaws, or if you would hate me for my bursts of flame. I realize I am telling you the true nature of my sickness, which is supposed to be a secret, and you know why? Like I said, I trust you. I know that I'm not that trustworthy, and that I wouldn't understand the true reason that you have to stay alone. I know that I can't understand you, but I hope that now, at least, you can understand me."

There was a knock on the door.

"Elsa? Come on now, it's time to go." It was her father. I waited for his footsteps to fade away, and then left Elsa's room to gather my things for the boat ride to Arendelle.


	5. Part 1, Chapter 5

V.

The day on the boat was rather uneventful. On the afternoon of my departure, my brother had slipped a small letter into my hand as he, his wife, and my father all wished me safe travels. It didn't seem like too important a note at the time, but it shaped how I would remember my brother and, though he took no part in writing it, my dad, for over three years:

_Erik,_

_ I just wanted to wish you a safe journey. I know you can only keep our blessings in your mind, so I am giving you this paper copy in case your memory fails you. Just kidding- I know you'll be fine in Arendelle, enjoying a new life in a foreign kingdom. Just remember, your sickness is still a secret from everyone, including your wife. If you ever feel ill, just ask to get to a fire; I know I won't be able to comfort you, but I have faith that you can do well on your own._

_I don't want to end this note on a downer, and you haven't been too sick for years now anyways, so I'll leave you with this: enjoy yourself._

_ Be safe,_

_ Joakim_

After reading the note the first time I shoved it into my coat pocket, and went to the room of the boat in which I would remain for the rest of the trip, save mealtimes. The boat arrived at Arendelle on schedule, with no complications or excitement the all the while. When it was announced that the boat had docked, I left my room to get my first glance of my new home.

A large castle, consisting of many sand-colored forms capped in pointed green roofs, dominated the scene. Its fortified walls stood in the foreground, blocking any view of the castle grounds. Farther away, towards the slopes of the mountains, village houses dotted the land, all connected by a road to the marketplace right in front of the castle. The rest of it was just mountains, mountains as tall as you cared to crane your neck to see, and as far as you cared to look, excepting, of course, the river the boat was now in.

The King and Queen personally escorted me to my room, which I should have realized at that point would not be Elsa's room. I had initially thought that the castle was enormous compared to the one in Fordane, but the inside looked the same, but with a different color scheme. They led me through halls and corridors that felt eerily familiar, to a room that looked remarkably like my old room in Fordane; the same thick bed lay in the back left, and the same dresser stood near the door, and it even had the large circular stain on the wall near the ceiling. The Queen told me that I should rest, and that servants would come with my luggage soon. I said something close enough to thank you as they left, and sat on a bed that felt like the bed I had always sat on. It hadn't been very long since we ate lunch, but I sat numb on the bed until dinner was called, and went to bed immediately afterwards.

• • •

The next morning, I was greeted by a brilliant shining sun, a lost sense of direction, and a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Anna. Elsa's sister." I wasn't expecting that, of all things.

"Okay…"

"Dad- I mean, the King, wanted to know if you'd like a tour of castle. You know, if you want. And if you want me to give it to you, if you want."

Anna's knock made more sense now, and I took her offer. It wasn't like I had anything better to do; my new tutor wouldn't be meeting me for several weeks, and as a new arrival, I had no business to take care of.

"Sure, just let me get dressed first, okay?"

I made myself presentable and stepped outside of my room, and I could have sworn Anna was about to actually start jumping off the walls.

"Sorry, I'm just excited. I mean, usually when I knock on a door, nothing happens, but now I can do stuff with an actual person!" She grabbed me by the wrist and shot forward, my body stumbling to keep up as best it could. We brushed past all the rooms in a flash – the throne room, the dining hall, the ballroom, the King and Queen's quarters, Elsa's room and Anna's room and everything in between. We quickly burst into a living area lined with paintings from ceiling to floor, when Anna promptly jumped up to a couch and slouched onto it, panting heavily.

"And this is where I spend most of my time. Whoo! What a rush!"

I didn't think I was very exhausted from the tour, but I found myself lying on the floor and panting heavier than Anna was. I wasn't too out of breath to talk, though.

"Why do you spend your time in here? Don't you do anything with Elsa, even talk to her?"

Anna's ecstatic grin dropped quickly into a gloomy frown. "No, I don't. I wish she would let me, but she doesn't."

"How come?"

Anna took a long, deep breath. "I don't know. When I was really small, we used to play together all the time. But when I was five, she locked herself up in her room, and never told me why. I used to be able to get Elsa to read me a story through the door before bedtime, but now she usually just tells me to go away. I don't get why she shuts me out!" Anna sprang up and kicked the couch, looking immediately like she regretted doing that. "Ouch! Ooooo ow ow ow!"

I sat up. "Are you okay? Do you need ice for that?"

Anna sucked up a breath through clenched teeth and sat back down. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Then she looked at me for a long time, with the most judgmental face I think I've ever seen her have. "If you're thinking about spending time with her like you would with a regular wife, forget it. She doesn't budge. She won't take walks with you, or eat dinner with you, or even talk to you. You'll pretty much have to live without her." She obviously saw my face drop, because she quickly added, "But you can spend time with me until she does something! I mean, I get pretty bored being alone, and there's no reason for you to have to do the same."

I got a sharp but small knot in my stomach; I wanted to go straight to Elsa and sort out the rest of our life together. I don't know why I calmed down quickly, but I did, and smiled at Anna. "Sure, why not?"

We spent the rest of the day and the rest of the week in that room, discussing the paintings on the wall.


	6. Part 1, Chapter 6

VI.

A week after coming to Arendelle, I got a chance to talk to Elsa for the third time in our two and a half weeks of marriage.

This time, however, it wasn't Elsa who summoned me to her room, but her father the King. He came to the living room in which Anna and I had spent our time the last week and asked to speak to me privately.

"Listen, Erik. I've been talking to Elsa, about you. I hear that you were talking to her through the door, hmm?"

Fear began bubbling inside. Did I do something wrong? I emitted a faint "Yes."

"Well, she didn't tell me any of the specifics, but she did make sure I knew that, even though she didn't say much to you, she says trusts you too. She said she understands you, and has a secret of her own to tell. Now, before you go in there, I'm warning you now, what you are going to hear might be too shocking to you. I didn't want her to tell you, but she insisted that you were the closest family she has now besides the Queen, Anna, and myself. She seemed convicted that you were trustworthy, and I trust her, so I suppose by default, I trust you. One more thing." He leaned in until he was inches from my face, and put on a more menacing voice. "Don't your _dare_ tell Anna what you are about to hear. And if I find out that you did a single thing to make Elsa feel uncomfortable or insecure… there will be _dire_ consequences." He marched away resolutely, forcing me to walk to Elsa's room on my own through the shards of apprehension his words had left strewn in the air. The walk was a blur, and I knocked on Elsa's door.

"Who is it?"

I prepared myself for everything I could think of. "Erik."

"Come in."

I cracked open the door and slipped inside. It clicked behind me and I looked at Elsa, who was sitting on her bed. She wasn't in her formal attire now, but in a casual dark blue dress that looked a lot more comfortable. Her blonde braid was down and to one side, but her eyes were the same crystal blue, and she had on those same gloves. She smiled very slightly at me, and I found my mouth smiling back.

"I've been thinking about what you said to me last week. About your life, and understanding, and trust… I heard your story, and I realized you might be able to understand me even better than my own parents can." She sounded more scared than she looked.

I stayed silent; I felt her on the edge of a monologue. My hands got warm.

"I have a curse. You're sick with fire, and I'm cursed with ice." She carefully pulled off a glove and produced a timid puff of snow, and then jerked the glove back on. I expected to be surprised, but somehow I wasn't. It was almost as if I knew of this – or felt this - on the day I last talked to her. I let her go on.

"When I was little, me and Anna would go to the ballroom to play, and I would cover it in snow. We would make snow angels and snowmen, and have snowball fights. I would make her hills to climb over, and ramps to catch her when she, being Anna, jumped off of them. One day, when I was eight years old, I accidentally shot a blast of ice at my sister's head." Somehow, Elsa's voice hadn't changed its sound, but tears had started rolling from her eyes. "We had to take her to a special place to get her fixed, but the one who saved Anna's life also told me that my curse was too dangerous, and that I needed to keep it hidden from Anna for her protection. I couldn't have just decided to stop using my powers either; they're controlled by my emotions, and have only been growing stronger…"

It was only then that I noticed that every surface in the room was covered in frost or ice, and that a light dusting of snow had fallen since she had started talking. I let the weight of her words sink into my mind, now fully engaged to Elsa.

"Sorry if I'm being too blunt about this," she continued, "When you told me your story, it just made me feel… safe. Like I wasn't a complete danger, or if I was, that I wasn't the only one. We are both secretly volatile, for reasons I can't say to anyone besides my parents and you, for my sister's sake. You're lucky; your sickness has died down with age. But my ice curse has only been getting stronger, and every day I'm a bigger threat to Anna than I was the day before. Even if he didn't know it, at least my father found me someone who could _truly_ relate to me, of a much more fundamental level than I ever expected." Elsa brought her fingers to her wet eyes, and trying to hide a controlled but heavy cry. "Conceal it, Elsa," she commanded under her breath, "Conceal."

I felt tears make their way out of my own eyes as I walked over to her bedside and brought my left hand to her face, gently tilting it so she could see through those watery blue eyes the most reassuring smile I could give her. She sniffled a bit and smiled a bit more, and then her cheek began to sizzle.

Elsa shrieked horribly and shot backwards onto her bed as I whipped my hand away form her face in gut-wrenching pain. My vision went blurry for a few seconds, and Elsa, clutching the side of her head with her hands, screeched out loud what I was thinking.

"What the heck was that?"

I was too shocked and disturbed to make any sort of noise while Elsa wailed in pain. Her hands fell off of her face, revealing a hideous welt in the shape of my hand, a peeling, frothing burn that oozed a vile fluid onto her dress. My stomach churned; it was too much, I looked away. I couldn't feel my left hand, and found it a completely frostbitten mass of purple and black. I didn't care about it, though. I built up the courage to look at Elsa again, who was no longer screaming, but sobbing softly. The burn on her cheek and chin looked intolerable, but the feeling of complete betrayal her weeping eyes gave me kicked me with enough force to knock me off of my feet.

Just then, the King and Queen burst into the room.

"What is going on-" The King's jaw dropped, and the Queen screamed and ran to her daughter, who was beginning to faint. The King, in a concerned, hollow voice, mentioned something about trolls to the Queen, who nodded and walked out of the room with Elsa scooped up in her arms. The King turned his head to me, and we locked eyes. His bewilderment transformed almost instantaneously into pure rage.

"You rat!" He stormed over to me, and I jumped up off of the floor. He roared, "You unworthy piece of-" He thrust a punch into my chest with every syllable; I heard the crack of ribs. "You hurt her! You slime! You hurt Elsa; you could have killed her! You need to die!" He knocked me down with an elbow to the face, and brought his heel to a throat connected to a blood soaked head. I became scared for my life; fire shot out of my hand and feet. Not a sick fire, but an actual, on-demand blast. The King twitched a little, but did not move his foot. I lost the energy or the will to move.

"Stop, please." I found myself desperate to end the pain. On the King's face grew a malicious smile.

"No. I can't make you die, by myself or by execution. I need you to suffer, in the same way you're making Elsa suffer. For the attempted murder of my daughter, I hereby sentence you to life in prison, with torture as needed. I'll see to it that you can never hurt my daughters again. Guards! Take him."

My body went limp, and I passed out as the guards dragged me away by the wrists.


	7. Part 2, Chapter 7

**Part Two - Concurrent**

VII.

My first years in the Arendelle dungeon might just have been the best years of my life. Not for comfort or leisure, of course, by a long shot. I never was sent to any sort of holding cell; the King must have made it very clear how he felt about me, and the guards immediately threw me into a room accordingly. I fell face first into the dank cell, landing on the scattering of straw that was supposed to be a bed as the guards slammed the door behind me. As I scanned the mossy, cavernous stone room, I found that I was alone with an ashy spot for a fireplace, a putrid corner for a bathroom, and about a dozen rats. The cell was an odd combination of humid and cold, and water dripped into puddles on the ground from moss clumps in the ceiling. Void of energy on that first day, I simply accepted the cell as my new home and went to sleep on the straw.

The conditions in the cell were, to say the least, not ideal. On the first day, an executioner had loped off my frostbitten left hand to prevent me from dying of an infection before experiencing torture, and the stub that was left over still stung after a night of rest. Food was to be served once every day at noon and consisted of a stale lump of bread, a small raw potato, and water. The room was always too wet and too cold; I would find the strangest weeds and insects clinging to the wall, or to me. The rats were a nuisance; they gnawed at my feet while I ate, and woke me up at night with their endless attack on my toes. On the third day of imprisonment, I was pulled into the first torture session.

Well before sunrise, a large ringing thud jolted me awake. I spun my head to see the jailer motioning for me to step out of the cell. He threw a coarse sack over my head as I walked out and, grabbing both of my hand behind my back, lead me to a hot, stony room. He took my hood off for me to behold walls lined with gruesome, blood-spattered devices, and pushed me towards broad and burly man with a leather bullwhip. The first day proceeded as the sessions usually did: the man would give me fifty lashes on the back, occasionally throwing in a shot in the chest or legs or arms for variety. There were days on which I was, for some reason or another, forced to endure one of the machines on the wall, but I try not to think of those too much.

No, the Arendelle dungeon provided me with something much more valuable than physical comfort – knowledge, and control. A month into my stay at the dungeon, the guards threw another man into my cell. He was older, probably over fifty years of age, and had long fading hair that flowed into a white bush of a beard. The deep and grimy ridges and wrinkles on his face surrounding his bright brown eyes contrasted with his muscular arms and broad chest, and I didn't know what to think of him until he had started talking. I don't exactly remember why we started talking; it was just that I felt like I could talk with him for hours, I suppose, and I was right to feel that way. He introduced himself simply as Mikael, and after I had introduced myself simply as Erik, we began a winding and adventurous conversation that lasted until we were too tired to make intelligible sounds. And as we talked with each other for the following months, we began to learn more about each other, and about the larger world. I told my life story, and he what I thought was his. I never thought to ask Mikael how he could have possibly known the things he knew, but I got as much information from him as I could have ever hoped for. I learned that Elsa had been taken to the Valley of the Living Rock, where she was completely healed from her injury, but had no memory of my existence in exchange. Through a newspaper that, with Mikael's convincing, a scrawny guard smuggled in for us every week, I learned that the King and Queen of Arendelle had died on a boat, and that Elsa was to be queen when she came of age. I learned that the King of Fordane had also passed, and that his son had become King Joakim of Fordane. I also learned that King Joakim was his only son…

It took me a while to come to grips with the fact that, in the eyes of the outside world, I didn't exist. Not as Joakim's brother, not as the link between Fordane and Arendelle, not even as a distant memory in Elsa's mind. My entire life had been wiped clean, as if I had magically popped into existence as a prisoner a few months before the King and Queen of Arendelle had passed. I consoled myself with the knowledge that Elsa had made it out of the madness without harm, but even then I found myself forcefully reminded that, as far as she knew, I was just another prisoner.

The most freeing knowledge, though, and the reason I can call those years the best of my life, was the knowledge of fire. For the month before Mikael had arrived and for a month afterwards, I found myself recalling the letter Joakim had given me before I had left for Arendelle every time I sneezed fire or coughed up a flame. I kept it in a crack in the stone near my half of the straw bed, and read it every now and then. I was sick, I kept telling myself. I should have built a fire in the fireplace spot somehow, but I settled on channeling my outbursts through the dusty chimney. However, after the first month of conversation with Mikael, I felt like I could trust him with knowledge of my sickness._ Just remember, your sickness is a secret from everyone_, Joakim had told me. If telling Mikael everything was a mistake, then it was a wonderful mistake.

Mikael didn't ask for a demonstration first. He assured me that, based on my description, my so-called sickness sounded more like an ability or power than it did a disease, and that I should learn to harness it. It was the first time I had ever heard someone speak of my fire positively; not Dad, or Joakim, or even Elsa had anything to say about my sickness besides that: it was a sickness. Given this boost of confidence, over time I had began to try different things with Mikael, who I supposed used the wisdom of his years to help me succeed. I started out with small puffs from my hand and feet, which took only a month of work to produce on queue. I worked my way up to steady flames, and small fireballs, and fire breath. Within a year I could produce a warm, gentle, radiating heat, which was significantly harder than launching a fireball, as it required far more control.

I hadn't noticed for a while, but I began to realize that all the telltale symptoms of my sickness had vanished. It wasn't as if they had merely gone into remission for the summer months like they had for the last twenty-three years; they actually vanished. I had no sweaty palms or soles, and no feeling of heartburn in my chest, and the need to vomit flames had become so far removed from me that it almost seemed absurd. I discussed this with Mikael during one of our classic talks and, putting his wise mind to thought for a few minutes, reasoned that I had felt sick for all these years because I had been suppressing the fire at my core. With no where to go, it left in painful bursts and slowly through sweat, and pushed harder whenever I was cold or under stress as my core kicked itself into high gear. Now that I had an outlet for my fire, the pressure was relieved.

By the time three years had passed in the prison, I was no longer the Prince Erik of Fordane I had been for twenty-one years, and not only just in title. Partially in debt to Mikael and partially to the hardships of life in the dungeon, I was no longer a sick, whinnying little child. I was a man, a strong man, both physically and mentally. I had control over my fire, and control over my thoughts. I wasn't ready to face a world beyond the four corners of the Fordane castle when I got married. But on that day, about three years since I was accused of attempted murder, I was ready, despite the prison walls surrounding me.


	8. Part 2, Chapter 8

VIII.

"How far are you on that rope of yours?"

"I probably have about fifty feet, say forty just to be safe." I replied.

Mikael smiled. "I think that should be good enough for our purposes. Put it with the rest of the things."

I scooped the coil up from ground and made my way to a loose stone in the wall, which I pulled back to reveal a few tin cups for drinking water, the latest month's worth of newspapers, a few potatoes, and two woven straw hats. There were also two crude knives Mikael and I had forged from stones, and a canvas knapsack the guard who smuggled in our newspapers had brought for us. I had just repositioned the loose stone over the contents when the jailer slid open the door and gestured for me to come for a torture session. I glanced over to check for the slightest of nods from Mikael before stepping out of the cell. I was time to put a loose plan we had been working on for a few weeks into action.

The jailer of course slid the sack over my face, which I quickly burnt off with my breath. The jailer shouted and jumped back, and I focused some of my core energy into my hand as I swiveled around to face the man. My right hand churned up a heat wave that knocked him off of his feet, and with my left arm stub I seared a small section of his flesh, not enough to kill him, but more than plenty to incapacitate him with pain. Mikael burst out of the cell with the loaded knapsack strapped across his chest, and with me leading, we ran. I didn't care where we were going, and Mikael only a bit less so. I simply ran straight, blasting anything or anyone in my path with my torch and leaving a sea of burn victims in my wake. It's a wonder how I never set Mikael aflame in my excitement.

Before long we leaped out of an upper level window and into the thicket below, cushioning our fall with the foliage I was trying not to cook. We crashed into the ground, and I looked up to see flames sticking their tongues out the window. Mikael was just telling me to start running again as a figure fell out of the castle, through the cushion of the trees, and crunched into a heap in front of my feet. It was a castle guard, his body horribly mutilated with ash-laden burns, lying as a pile of broken bones on the earth. He craned his blistering neck to look at me dead in the eyes with terrified orbs embedded in a purple face. His voice forced its way through a wall of pain.

"You monster…" he rasped, "Why?" His life quickly caught up to him, and he died.

I stared at the corpse for an unhealthy amount of time. I studied every burn, every streak of ash. _I_ did that. I focused on my right hand, and then my left stub. _These_ did that. What had I done? My mind raced back to Elsa, and her face… What had I done? My stomach sank. This man was right; I was a monster. I found my hand again and began to tremble. I did that. Terror pulsed through my veins. This was sick. I wasn't sick, but my fire was still… sick. I felt that nauseous heartburn in my chest.

Mikael realized I had stopped dead in my tracks. "Erik, are you okay? C'mon, we've got places to go." I looked at the dead guard, and the flames still licking the air from inside the prison tower, and back at the corpse on the ground. I couldn't handle it anymore. I snapped.

"No! I'm not okay!" I stared Mikael straight in the face. "Don't you see what just happened? I just _killed _thesepeople! My fire is a _murder_ _weapon_! I thought Elsa was being ridiculous for locking herself up, keeping her ice curse from hurting anyone. I had no idea; _I_ was the only person my sickness made miserable before today. I get it now, _this_ isn't a power, it's a curse!" I pointed fervently at the corpse, my hands and feet getting warm for the first time in almost three years. Mikael took a step back. "The King was right to lock me up. I'm a monster! I only didn't hurt father or Joakim because they did their best to suppress the curse. 'Sickness' was just a euphemism, but 'power' is a lie!" I cried. I didn't just tear up, but choked on an awful, guilty, angry sob that flowed with the force of twenty-four years of ignorance. Mikael kept his head level and spoke again.

"Listen, I know you've got a lot on you're mind, but we haven't got much time. What's done is done, now all you can do is move on. I know horrible things just happened, but right now we need to focus. This isn't the time to panic. I read in the paper that tomorrow is the Queen's coronation day. Everyone will be in town for the night, which will allow us to slip into the mountains unnoticed. We'll find a place to rest, and we can sort stuff out there, hmm?"

I had too much more to say, to him and to myself, but his logic got to me. Of course, we need to find a cave in the North Mountain. It made sense. I followed Mikael through varied terrain, deaf and blind to the world around me. After a day of non-stop stupor and a trek almost as steady, we finally settled in a North Mountain cave. I fell sleep instantly, feeling too tired to question my circumstances until the next day.

And all the while, I forgot to realize that the 'Queen' who was to be coronated would, of course, be Elsa.


	9. Part 2, Chapter 9

IX.

When I came to, Mikael had already started a fire and was roasting a rabbit over it. A slight summer breeze stirred the scent of the rabbit around the cave, and a soft sun shined in from the same place. The dry rock surrounding me expressed itself with streaks of color running in rings around the cave. The beauty of the day made Mikael and myself seem disgusting in comparison.

Our clothes were tattered from a long day's hike and singed from the fire escape before that. Whatever parts of our clothes we had gotten wet the day before were now caked with dirt, and the parts that remained dry had grown films of dust. Mikael's beard was a knotted clump, with more streaks of color in it than the rocks had.

Mikael put out the fire with a splash of water and a vigorous stomp, tore off the rabbit's hind legs, and walked over to where I was now sitting upright. He took a seat next to me, back to the cave wall, and handed me a leg.

"You ought to eat. You had a rough day yesterday; you'll need to get your energy back. And the best part – lunch isn't a potato." He smiled for a while as I began gnawing ravenously at the leg. He paused briefly, and continued, "You know, Erik, you're a good kid. Well, not a kid, I guess, you haven't been for a long time. You're a good man Erik. You've been a good man to me these last couple of years, and I've tried to do the same for you. I mean, I hope you think I'm a good man, you tell me so much about yourself, I feel like I know you better than I know myself." I stopped stuffing my face only because I was out of meat, and gave Mikael a puzzled look. He sighed. "Okay, Erik. I have to be straight with you. About me. I know for these last years you've let me know every aspect of your world; now it's my turn."

I finally spoke. "Shouldn't we look for food, or water?" I instantly realized how insensitive that sounded, but before I could move to correct myself, Mikael spoke again with a hearty laugh.

"Look at you, being practical! Glad to see you're not in that crying fit anymore. Yeah, I suppose we should. We'll gather food and find some clean water before it gets dark; my blabberfest can wait until later."

• • •

We spent the rest of daylight roaming around the forest at the base of the mountain. We came back to the cave at sunset with a few handfuls of berries, three carrots, and two tins of clear river water. As the last of the light faded away, I started a fire with a small spark at the remains of the last one, which hadn't burned up all of the wood available to it. I joined Mikael, who was sitting on the ground with his back towards the wall and his front to the fire. I talked to him through a carrot.

"So you were saying?"

Mikael was too focused in his berries. "Hmm?"

"This morning, you were saying? About your life?"

He shifted his gaze from his food to the fire. "Right. I have to tell you some things about me. And also you. I don't want to sugarcoat anything for you, so here it goes, straight forwards, blunt as the back of a spoon." I waited for a good minute or two before he started talking again. "I'm your uncle."

I spat out my carrot and gawked at him, and then laughed. "Ha! That's funny, nice joke. You're obviously…" My heart tightened when I saw his face drop. He wasn't joking at all; he was dead serious.

"I'm your uncle, and I let you kill your mother."

His revelation didn't shock me, or even confuse me. My mind simply and overtly rejected it. It just seemed absurd. "Okay, you've had your fun, you can stop making things up now."

Mikael's face remained dishearteningly straight.

"Seriously, you can stop now. It's not funny anymore."

His eyes became sadder. "Now, don't get mad at me. You think I _wanted_ her dead? It's nothing like that, nowhere close to that. She was my sister! She was the kindest person I've ever known, and had a tender heart, even for people she didn't particularly like. And her smile… her smile just made you feel like everything was okay, even if it wasn't."

My head swam, but Mikael had anticipated and extinguished the anger that was supposed to be pressurizing the inside of my skull before it even came into existence. Left with a void, I had no choice but to notice the genuine depression in Mikael's voice. "I never said I was mad." It gave Mikael the courage to talk.

"It was an accident, a few months after you were born. I used to be a doctor by trade, so naturally, I took care of all of my sister's medical needs, including delivering you. When your mother noticed that you had some unusually high fevers, I suggested some medicines that might just do the trick. One day, a castle guard knocked on my door and delivered an urgent message: you had a disturbingly high fever, none of the medicines were working, and that your mother needed my help immediately. I rushed over to the castle, but it was too late. By the time I had gotten to your room, you were lying on top of the bed, swaddled in a fluffy blanket. Your mother, though…" Mikael cleared his throat nervously. "You mother was lying on the ground, dead, with a gigantic, cauterized hole through her chest. You could see the floor through a space wide enough to put your flat hand through. I looked up and saw a blood-splattered circle of ash on the stone wall, near the ceiling. I didn't even have a chance to feel sad, or terrified, or confused, because just then, your father came bursting into the room." Mikael shuddered. "I'll never forget his words.

"'You rat! You unworthy piece of… You've killed her! You slime! Get out, now! Don't you dare ever come back!' I ran out of the castle as fast as I could, and didn't look back. I was such a coward."

The sides of my skull pounded and pulsed with a new realization: what I had done to Elsa wasn't new. I had done that before, to my own mother, and from the sound of it to a much further extent. My core heated up and my face got red. I had blasted a hole through my own mother. It wasn't Mikael's fault, he had nothing to do with it, and why he felt guilty I had no idea. It was all on me.

My vision got blurry, but I still managed to stare at my right hand, and the lack of the other. I hurt everything I came close to with these: the castle guards, or my mother, or Elsa… I stood up and pounded my head with my arm stub, and then the cave wall, leaving blood smeared on both.

"What have I done, what good am I? None! I can't be let loose, I'll burn everything I love, and do worse to everything I don't! I _need_ to be sick, because otherwise…" I turned to Mikael, who was still staring at the fire. "Go away. Now."

He faced me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Go away. Far away. Please, I don't want to hurt you. It's a miracle I didn't burn you to a crisp during our escape from the prison, or anytime before that when we were practicing, and I would like to keep it that way. Oh, what did you do for the last three years, Mikael? You've made a monster!" I jerked my face from one of concerned anger to one just of concern when I realized that our campfire had grown to lick the top of the cave. "No, you didn't make a monster, you made a monster realize he was a monster. Thank you for that. Now, for your safety, go."

Mikael gave me a stern look. "Do you even know what you're saying? I'm not leaving you, even if you think I am. Now, calm down, sit here and let me finish."

The campfire shrank back down to normal, and I did as he said. I began rubbing the dried blood on my forehead as he continued.

"After I ran away and had a few days to clear my head, I learned of an oracle who lived in the woods, in a forest not far from Fordane. Normally, being as I was a man of science, I would have rejected the hocus-pocus of an oracle, but after seeing what you had done to-" He saw my face and stopped himself. "what had happened to your mother, I had a more open mind. I set off on foot with a knapsack of provisions, and within a week I was standing in front of a wooden hut carved into the base of a massive tree, and the old, short woman who lived inside, whose face was just as gnarly as the tree she lived in.

"She told me everything about your fire, and why it was created. She said that the Greater Force was tired of seeing humans moseying about the Earth with no purpose other than to exist until the next day. She said that the Force created two sets of traits, one of fire, emotion, love, and anger, and another of ice, poise, clarity of thought, and fear, and that they were given to people for the Force's entertainment. She said she didn't know to whom the traits went, but that it sounded like you had the fire half of it. She laughed at that, and said that the Greater Force must've wanted to spice things up really badly, giving it to a member of a royal family. She kicked me out of her house when a middle-aged man made a large clanging noise in the back of the room, but not before she had instructed me to not worry about your powers, and that they wouldn't hurt anyone. I began walking back to Fordane.

"Of course, I couldn't believe most of what she had said, considering myself to be a logical man. I wanted to dismiss everything she said as mystical nonsense, but I found myself taking to heart much more than I should have. The last thing she said got to me; how can she say your fire wouldn't hurt anyone, it killed my sister!" Mikael shifted his position and glanced at me uncomfortably, trying to see if I would crack again. He realized that my raging emotions were being put on hold by an attentive stupor until I could better decide on a flame to fuel, and continued. "I left an anonymous note on the king's door when I got back to Fordane. I had written two copies of it, just so I would never forget what I had written, but now I kind of wish I hadn't." He reached his hand into a deep pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, which he unfolded and handed to me. It read:

_To the King of Fordane, and him only:_

_What I write of is an urgent matter of utmost importance, and not to be seen or heard by anyone else but you. Your son is sick, with a rare disease that causes him to produce fires. It may sound strange, but it requires immediate care. Make him suppress his bursts of flame in the same way one would a cough or a sneeze, and if he gets too uncomfortable, bring him close to a source of heat. Do not let him, under any circumstances, start a fire._

_-Someone who cares_

I pulled out the note in my own pocket, that Joakim had given me when I first left for Arendelle. My mind raced. I couldn't count the number of times, in the last three years, that I had cursed my brother and father for suppressing a gift, and the times in the last two days when I had thanked them for suppressing a curse. I had so much to say that I was almost speechless. I looked at Mikael with uneasy eyes. "_You_ did that?"

Mikael winced. "I know. I wish I hadn't. I really, really wish I hadn't. And I kept on wishing I hadn't for the next twenty years. My medical practice went up and down and up and then down in flames, but I was too traumatized to really care, even when I pretended that I did. When I saw in the newspapers that you were to be married off, and would, unconventionally, be moving to the bride's kingdom, I knew I had to see you again. And see you I did; I put on a disguise and, with hope that your father had forgotten my face after a few decades, faked my way into the ceremony as a minor government official from Arendelle. I saw you, and Elsa." He checked to see if I was doing all right.

I stared at him again, mouth agape. "You did _that_?"

He took a deep breath and stroked his beard, and pressed on. "After you got married, I sort of… followed you around. Just to check up on you, see where you were. I followed you to Arendelle, but I didn't gain too much insight about you. I had the chance, though, to overhear the King and Queen talking once, about a month after your… incident. I learned everything, about what had happened and how Elsa was saved. I learned of Elsa's ice powers, and thought back to the oracle… Two royals with abnormal powers, married? If the oracle was right, then the Great Force must have really wanted to make thing difficult. But the King and Queen learned everything too; when I was found eavesdropping, I was so caught by surprise that I splattered the truth, for which I was of course promptly jailed. And then… well you know the rest."

I let all the information filter through my head. I repeated myself, lacking any other words to represent everything I thought I had known about this man. "You _did_ that?"

Mikael looked ready to explain himself further, but he was cut off by a sharp, freezing wind that broke the summer night sky and rushed into the cave. It quickly snuffed out the fire and brought about a flurry of snow, which quickly escalated into a blizzard. I couldn't hear Mikael shouting or anything; I couldn't hear myself think, the wind was howling so loudly. I tried to run out of the cave, but the force of the wind was holding me back, and the snow and ice had already locked my feet in place and were crystalizing up my legs. As the snow began choking the mouth of the cave, I grew desperate.

I drew my arms together and fired a tornado of flames in front of me, punching a hole through the solid white storm. The ice around my feet fell away, and I sprinted out of the cave in a ball of fire. I burst out just as the storm ceased blowing ice at me, and landed feet first in the powder below. I looked back at the cave, and saw nothing but a rocky circle poking out from a sheet of snow. But at least I could find the cave. I couldn't say as much for Mikael.


	10. Part 2, Chapter 10

X.

The next two days were the most miserable of my life. They were colder than my sick winters back home, and more of a starved of food than my years in prison.

I gave up on finding Mikael after two or three hours of incessantly blasting pointless holes into the snow, finally being too cold to cling onto useless hopes. I forgot about almost everything: I forgot about Mikael, I forgot about the dungeon, I forgot about Elsa, I forgot about the prince I no longer was. I even forgot to wonder why there was a blizzard in the middle of summer. The only thing I could keep a hold of was my fire, and that was just out of necessity, for keeping myself warm. It's funny, how in true times of crisis, all that is irrelevant to the present situation is immediately washed from the mind.

For those two days, I walked in a straight line around the cone of the mountain, not to actually get anywhere, but to find food. I never did. I had as much water as I wanted, though; I just melted a handful of ice, and a few drinks every now and then made me loose awareness of my hunger long enough to move a significant distance.

The cold wasn't nearly as tolerable. I was dressed in the short, dirty, absorbent rags Arendelle prisoners would wear in the summer, and the only thing that stood in between my feet and the ice were two squishy canvas shoes, burnt on the bottom from the more recent practice sessions in the dungeon. Water on the verge of freezing sloshed around my feet, and glued my shirt to my chest and my pants to my legs. Whenever I would use my heat to keep from getting frostbite – I had seen how unpleasant that was – the snow pack around me would liquefy, dropping me into a knee-deep puddle before I hit the rock of the mountain. Not able to use fire to protect myself from the elements, I was forced to trudge through white snow and clear slush. I probably could have blasted much of the snow off the mountain with a decently large fireball, but I kept remembering that Mikael was down in the ice somewhere, and couldn't bring myself to do it.

Those two days were definitely not a blur; I remember every minute of them with goose bumps and clattering teeth. By the end of them, I had, without ever stopping to eat or rest, brought myself to the side of the mountain opposite the cave, the side closer to Arendelle. I heaved my legs onward, thinking only of where to put my next step. I was still focused on nothing more than surviving, or even just moving forwards, when I saw a castle.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure a few sleepless days of hypothermia hadn't made me start hallucinating. I wasn't; in front of me was a castle, or more of a palace, made entirely of ice. Hexagonal beams thicker than I was tall rose from the ground to meet the rest if the castle in the air. Sheets of ice latticed the solid framework, and frozen spires reached skywards from a crystalline dome. I found myself at the foot of the castle, which had a magnificent, decorated doorway past a somewhat damaged piece of staircase. I walked up and entered the castle, not wondering about how such a structure could have been made, or who could have created it. I concluded that rich people lived in castles, and where there were rich people, there was food.

When I entered what was almost the only room in the building, the first thing I noticed wasn't the massive blue and purple pillars racing up the walls, or the balcony stretching out into the sky on the far side, or the icicles protruding from the walls in every direction. The first thing I noticed wasn't the shattered back door and wall of ice on the balcony, or the several icy spears pointing to one place on the wall, or the shards of an elaborate chandelier strewn about the center of the room. No, the first thing I had noticed was a frozen little carrot, sitting shriveled up by the front door.

Cooking and eating that one carrot made all the difference in the world. I felt my energy and strength come back, and the stupor I had been in and out of since I escaped the dungeon finally leave me for good. The torture of the last three or four days was over. Of course, regaining my vitality had its drawbacks, as I actually began taking in the scene around me. There had been a fight. I studied the forms of the ice closer. There had been a fight, and some one was fighting with ice. Someone like… Elsa.

The life I had temporarily forgotten hit me in the back of the head like a ton of bricks; if it had hit me in the chest, it would've had the wind knocked out of me. It had to be Elsa. A whole castle made of ice, though? My mind raced with blunt ideas that ran a fine line between being awestruck and insulting. How could it have been Elsa, if she just stays in her room with gloves on her puff-making hands? How could I say that the castle was hers, when the most intense thing I'd ever seen her do was freeze my hand off? If I, after three years of what I hoped was training, couldn't make a fire well enough to keep my feet dry without melting half a mountain of snow, why should I think that Elsa would be an instantaneous architect? And the fighting – where would Elsa have learned to fight like that? The icicles by the wall and block on the balcony made it clear now; she had a point to someone's throat and had another on the edge of a cliff. And from the direction of the blasts, she would have stood dead in the center of the room, right under the chandelier…

I twitched and stumbled over to the center of the room, not actually being as revived as I had initially felt. I breathed a sigh of relief, for there was no body in the pile of ice, and nobody's blood had stained the scratched crystal floor. My brain resumed its thought process. There was no way that Elsa had done all of this, but she obviously had. She had a battle with her frost thrown into the mix, and had built a masterpiece of a palace, albeit a war-torn palace from the inside. Suddenly, all of the pieces had fallen into place, and my mind clicked violently.

Elsa didn't just freeze up some fighters, or a castle. She had frozen all the land as far the eye could see; she had cut the summer short with a great freeze, and draped the world in a blanket of snow.


	11. Part 2, Chapter 11

XI.

After a long nap, I decided to head back to Arendelle. There was nothing for me on that god-forsaken mountain, not even food, and I had only woken up because the ice castle, along with the thick layer of snow, had mysteriously vanished from underneath me. The mountain was now just an inhospitable rock, so I had go to the only place I knew had a path leading up to it. What ever would happen would happen. I'd probably get thrown back into jail, but it would be better than starving to death.

For the next several hours, I trekked through the forest at the base of the mountain in the reverse direction Mikael and I had taken days ago to get there. I was feeling a lot better; I hadn't found any food, but the sun was shining warm and bright, and my clothes were dry by the time I thought to check on them. I finally made it to a dirt road, which I decided to take. Mikael and I had come from the forest on the far side of the path, but there was no point in going back the outer walls of the prison towers. I couldn't enter the city as a prince, but that didn't have to mean I would enter as a savage.

I walked on that path with a brisk pace until the sun began to wane and turn the sky red. When I finally entered the city, I was overwhelmed with a sense of safety. There were merchants with metal things and bakers with food carts down the streets, which were lined with houses and stores. People stared at me as I walked past, and I didn't find out why until I had made it to the central square of the city. It was iced over, and the people were busy ice-skating on it. I got down on my knees and looked at a reflective part of the ice, and saw myself for the first time in three years.

It was a ghastly sight. My face was hollow, and my skin clung tightly to my bones. My hair was matted and clumped together with ash and dirt; my chin had clusters of beard that were just as filthy. And in the center of it all were two sunken eyes surrounded by purple bags, two yellowed, bloodshot eyes which, upon closer inspection, were not a swirling brown, but a strikingly bright red.

I thanked Elsa for letting me see the mess I had become, and lied down on the ice in a sudden rush of exhaustion, directly in the path of a woman not very skilled with ice skates.


	12. Part 3, Chapter 12

**Part Three – Sequel**

XII.

I woke up in a soft bed, under warm sheets and with a fluffy pillow cushioning my head. I felt a sharp euphoria, thinking that the last three years of my life had just been one prolonged nightmare, but it immediately dissipated when I couldn't feel my left hand. I looked at my shirt, and found it beige, woolen, and clean. My right hand had no dirt on it, and it felt like the rest of me didn't either. I sat up just as a middle-aged woman with bouncy red hair and more freckles than she had face rushed in with a bowl of soup.

"You're awake! How good, isn't that good, Harald?"

An older man with silvery hair grunted from the cheap wooden dining table on the other side of the room.

The woman grunted back in disapproval. "Don't mind my husband, he's just a little sour. Here eat this, you'll feel better." I wordlessly accepted the soup, and Harald began talking in a voice that seemed an octave too high for his appearance.

"Just a little sour? I'm a whole lotta sour. You know why?"

The woman sighed. "Not this again."

Harald said, "I'm waiting," and then proceeded to wait.

"Why are you so sour, Harald?"

"I'll tell you why I'm so sour, Lilly, thank you for asking. I'm sour because the beloved Queen's 'accidental' ice storm killed nearly every crop in Arendelle! Not to mention all the people, who are barely better off than the plants!"

Lilly rolled her joking eyes so that I could see it but Harald couldn't. "And please, Harald, explain to this young man how dead plants matter to us, since we're not, I don't know, farmers?"

Harald stood up. "Because, Lilly, we have to eat something! Food prices are going to be ridiculous now that there's practically no food left! I swear on my mother's grave, that blizzard was some devilish plot by the Queen to make people like her for ending the very suffering she caused!"

Lilly smiled mockingly. "See what I have to live with? But I love him anyways." She got up and pecked him on the cheek, after which he mumbled something about getting ready for work and left the room. She turned her attention back to me.

"My, you finished that fast. Here, let me get that, do you want some more?" I didn't want to seem greedy, but nodded yes anyways, and soon enough she was back with a full bowl. "You know, when you fell in front of me, you weren't looking too good. Harald didn't think you would make it, but I told him that was nonsense. But really, how'd you get like that?"

It took me a while to notice that she was directly addressing me. "I'd been walking around for days with nothing but a frozen carrot to eat." I made sure not to say anything incriminating, or something else I would regret saying.

"Oh, that sounds awful!" Lilly sensed that I was uncomfortable talking about the last few days, and changed the topic. "Could I know your name?"

"Erik"

"Erik, that's a nice name. I always thought I would name my child Erik, but then I got two girls. They were the best little girls in all of Arendelle, and are the best young ladies now, if I may say so myself." She studied me closer. "You're not from here, are you?"

"No, Fordane."

"Fordane! I've heard of that place. I'm pretty sure Princess Anna went to your King's coronation about two years ago. Oh, I wish I could ask Harald, he always remembers this sort of thing, but he's probably gone to work."

I raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Wait, Anna went to Joakim's coronation? He already had a coronation?" I remembered after sounding ignorant the articles in Arendelle's newspaper about Joakim becoming king.

Lilly chuckled. "Interested in politics, I see. You should really know when your own King has a coronation, though. I mean, Queen Elsa had her coronation just a few days ago, and I didn't forget that." Lilly's smile slowly faded. "But now I kind of wish I could."

"She made the ice storm, right? Why?"

Lilly's smile came back halfway. "What do I look like, an oracle? I don't know, but as best I can tell, it was an accident. Considering her twenty-year streak of ice-free summers, though, I don't think we can really get too mad at her for one slip up. Though I do wish she had told us that she could, at any moment, freeze Arendelle over, before she actually went and did it."

I spent the next six hours alternating between talking small talk with Lilly and taking naps. Late in the afternoon, I finally asked her the question that would have been nagging me the whole time had it not been for her friendly company.

"When can I go see Elsa?" I got a few bubbles of heat in my stomach.

Lilly furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Look, I know that Her Majesty has this whole 'open door' policy now, but I don't think _Queen_ Elsa would want to be bothered by commoners like us."

I felt safe enough to divulge some information to Lilly, after our day of talking together. "I'm not a commoner. I'm Prince Erik, of Fordane, brother of King Joakim and husband of Queen Elsa, which makes me, I suppose, King of Arendelle."

Lilly burst out into laughter so convulsive that tears sprang from her eyes. She spoke when she had finally calmed down enough to do so. "Oh, Erik, you might've hit your head on that ice a bit harder than you think you did. Either that, or you're a jokester, which, trust me, with Mr. Sour Crops for a husband, I don't mind"

I forced myself to remember that Erik, Prince of Fordane, didn't exist. I would have to save the question of why that was for Elsa. How, and who, and why was I so completely erased from the minds of the people that they didn't even know Joakim had a brother? I had to settle with no response, though, and told Lilly that I planned on leaving when I felt well enough to.

"Well, I guess I can't keep you here forever, and if you're actually insane then I don't think I'd want to." She smiled. "I'm just kidding, just kidding. You go when you're ready, and remember that you can always come here if you need a place to stay."

After a bowl of soup and piece of bread the next morning, I wished Lilly and her husband good health and headed towards the Arendelle castle.


	13. Part 3, Chapter 13

XIII.

When I had reached the front gates, a guard asked for my name and conducted me to a wait line of citizens roughly twenty strong. I was informed that the Queen would begin seeing the people at nine-thirty, which was conveniently close to the time it was then. I glanced over at the people in front of me. They all looked dressed in their best clothes, with neatly groomed hair and shiny wooden, or occasionally leather shoes, but there was no mistaking that they weren't nobility. A few of them had brought along little knickknacks to pass the time with, while others, mostly men, just stood with their weight on one leg. I found myself in the same posture.

It was over two hours before every person ahead of me in the line had had his or her grievance received. The young, tall and brawny woman in front of me was so loud that, even from outside of the throne room, I could hear her shouting.

"Princess Anna, with all due respect, could you _please_ explain to Her Majesty that the Great Freeze killed nearly every pig I owned!" the woman said with a raised voice.

Anna made a noise as if she was going to shout back, but Elsa cut her off with calm but firm speech. "First of all, I expect you to talk to me directly about any issue you may take with the Great Freeze. I caused it, not Anna. When you say 'with all due respect,' I hope for your sake that you mean it. That being said, the Imperial Funds will compensate you for your pigs, along with any other property directly damaged by the Freeze. There, I've fixed what I can. You may leave."

"But how much will I get? Pigs cost more these days, Your Majesty, and-"

"You may leave." Elsa killed the woman's words with a resolute order backed with a cold plate of wrought iron.

I witnessed the woman walking out with a guard, and heard a male voice call out, "Next!" I forgot to take a deep breath before entering the room, but I was too close to the thrones by the time I realized it. I looked up at the two thrones and the chairs on either side of them.

On the left sat Anna, in nondescript clothing, staring with boredom at some part of her sleeve, and on the right was a man wearing a thick wool and leather jacket, and pants to match. He swept his blonde hair to one side with a hand as he studied a sheet of paper, checking off things every now and then with a stick of charcoal.

There were two adjacent thrones in the middle, and the one on the left was empty. On the right… Elsa. It took me a while to connect the woman I saw to the anxious, stressed, and sad girl I had known three years ago. Her hair was in a loose braid and draped over her left shoulder, at which point a magnificent light blue dress that it shined like ice took over, and followed her body to her feet. She was sitting up straight, but relaxed, with impeccable poise from her crownless head to her high-heeled shoes. It wasn't the stiff and uncomfortable poise she had sat with years ago, but a structure that allowed her freedom of expression while maintaining that regal appearance one would expect a Queen to have. Her eyes were the color of a frozen lake.

The man on the right had stopped checking his list and spoke. "Please state your name and purpose."

I cleared my throat. "Erik. My name is Erik, and I-"

I didn't get the chance to make up a reason for being there. Anna immediately jerked her head upon hearing my name, and upon seeing my left arm mentally identified me. She jumped out of her seat, which made Elsa and the other man turn confused heads at her.

"Anna, what are you doing?" the man said.

"I need to talk with Erik alone." Anna caught herself sounding too confident in my name, and awkwardly tried to cover it up. "His name's Erik, right? Well, I can hear what he has to say, you two move right along to the next person, I'll try not to take too long."

Elsa was openly perplexed. "But why?"

"I… I just know him, okay? Don't worry, I'll tell you everything, but I need him to tell me everything first."

"But-"

"Elsa, you kept a secret from me for thirteen years. I know how it feels, and I'm not going to do the same thing to you. I'll tell you everything; I just need to talk with him alone first."

Elsa gave an uneasy okay, and before I knew it Anna had grabbed me by the wrist and shot towards a hallway that led out from the back of the throne room, and we ended up in a rather small space, possible a bedroom, but void of any furniture except two small, adjacent wooden chairs. Anna sat in the left one and invited me to sit on the right. Forgetting that nobody knew I was a prince, I started talking.

"You remember me? Do you really remember me?"

Anna must've remembered me, because she wasn't insulted that I didn't address her formally. "Yes, Erik, I do. Prince Erik of Fordane." A smile pushed her freckles into her eyes. "Wow, it's been so long since I've seen you, like almost a week now! How's life?"

I was about to answer that I didn't really want to talk about the last three years without Elsa there, but I realized what exactly Anna had said. "It's been a _week_? More like three years."

Her smile didn't disappear completely, but it did fade a significant amount. "I know, you've got a lot of catching up to do, as do I, and Elsa. And I kind of feel sorry for Kristoff, he has so much catching up to do." I assumed Kristoff was the man in the throne room. "I guess I know where to start now. You know that guard who gave you newspapers during your… stay?"

My stomach sank. "You knew?"

"I didn't just know. I was that guard."

If I had any water in my mouth I would have spat it out, but I didn't, so it ended up being a spasmic convulsion of air. Anna wasn't nearly as intimidating as Elsa, though, or even Mikael, and I found my speech quickly enough. "_You_ gave us those papers? For three years? How? Didn't you get caught?"

Anna smirked proudly. "Not as air-headed as I look, hmm?" She thought back to the questions I had just asked her. "Speaking of _us_, where's Mikael? Did he not stay with you?"

I slumped my shoulders and bowed my head. "Yeah, he stayed with me, as long as he could. He got trapped in a cave by a blizzard; I barely made it out with my life."

She finally frowned. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Really, I am. And I know Elsa is too, I just… don't know if she should hear that right now. I mean, just overcoming thirteen years of fear of your power to find out that they killed someone, can you imagine?" Anna saw the look of sad affirmation I was giving her. "Oh, right, you can." She thought about my response a little more, and she leaned in with furrowed browns as she realized what I had implied. "You _killed_ someone?"

"A few people. Guards. On my way out…"

Anna slapped her forehead. "Of course! When I saw all the guards, that day you escaped… I thought it was just some torch or something that fell over in the commotion. But you… well, I guess Mikael wasn't teaching you for nothing, but you…" She glanced over at my guilt-laden face, and tried to pick up the hint. "Right, I'll spare you the details. It's just… they looked terrible. And their families…"

My eyes got wet, and my bubbling heart wrenched with pain from a feeling like acid. "Can we talk about something else?"

Anna laid a gentle hand on my shoulder and tried to smile. "Of course. You remember the paintings much?"

I gave a little chuckle and wiped my eyes dry. "Yes, I remember the paintings. And I still think that one above the couch could have used a tree or two." The tangent was enough to get me thinking again. "So how come you know I'm Prince Erik?"

"Pardon?"

"How come you know I'm Prince Erik?"

"Because I can see your face… and not your left hand." Anna took her hand off of my shoulder. "Sorry, I don't get what you're asking me."

I breathed out and elaborated. "Why do you seem to be the only one who knows that I am Prince of Fordane, and technically King of Arendelle?"

Anna turned away. "Now that's a little bit more of a story. It happened about two months after your arrest, when the King and Prince of Fordane were called over to Arendelle for a meeting with mom and dad, the Queen and the King.


	14. Part 3, Chapter 14

XIV.

"That day, I was just roaming the hallways, like I did every day, trying to find something interesting to do. I had already checked all my usual spots, but I was crazy bored, so I went over to the part of the castle where mom and father did their work. I was about to go away when I heard a loud shattering noise, like something glass had just been thrown at a wall. I pressed my ear to the door. I remember every word.

"'Do you even realize the magnitude of what your son did?' Dad sounded furious. 'Your son nearly killed my daughter! You know, in most kingdoms, attack on a member of the royal family is reason enough for a declaration of war!'

"'Please, try to be reasonable,' your father said, 'We didn't try to hurt Elsa. It's all on Erik, but we've been working on controlling his sickness since the day he was born. He must've had a little slip up, but it's nothing he could possibly controlled.'

"'But don't you think you should've mentioned that, oh, I don't know, your son breathes fire _before _marrying him off to my daughter?'" Anna slouched a little, and her tone briefly became almost spiteful. "He never even mentioned Elsa's powers, the hypocrite, not even to me. How could he expect your father and brother to tell some strangers about yours?

"Anyways, your father couldn't think up a good enough answer I guess, because mom started talking after a while. 'Well, whatever the case may be, we have decided that it is best to imprison Erik, for what is, after all, a crime. You may disagree with us, but I'm confident that you'll see we have ample reasoning behind the choice we made.'

"I was kind of expecting your father to retaliate, but he didn't. 'Of course. Do what you'd like with him. We've been pampering Erik his whole life, trying to get rid of his sickness, but from hearing what happened to your daughter, it obviously hasn't worked. He must need some times of hardship to get straightened out. I also have another suggestion.'

"My father started again. 'Now you listen here- wait, what? Oh… you… what's your suggestion, Your Highness?'

"Your dad's voice crawled in a whisper, so I could only make out a few words. I wasn't left wondering what they said, though, because after a few minutes, your father and brother came out of the room, not noticing me by the door. I began following them as they walked away.

"'Ah! Boy, isn't this great, Joakim? With that flaming nuisance finally out of our hair, can focus on what really matters – you. Think about it, with propaganda machines in full swing in both Arendelle and Fordane, it'll be a matter of weeks before the world thinks you're an only child! I wished you were the whole time, but I couldn't tell your mother that, now, could I? With that creep taking her life and all. We're done wasting time and energy and valuable resources to contain that freak. Such a relief, eh?'

"Your brother nodded, but it didn't look like he wanted to nod. He looked behind him and saw me peeping from around a corner. He shook his head urgently at me, telling me to scram before I got caught, and I did. I wasn't supposed to hear any of that stuff, but I did… so I had to do something. That's when I started sneaking up into the prison chambers as a guard."

I didn't care about Anna being the helpful guard, as too much of my heart was already dissolved in stomach acid by the end of her retelling. Until then, I had felt like the only person who ever betrayed me was myself, when I burned Elsa. I never imagined, in all my life, that my own father… he had done such a wonderful job covering up his own sentiments that I had grieved his death from inside the very cell he had helped put me in. He seemed completely supportive for twenty-four years; his character didn't have a scratch on it, much less a deep gash that would render it impotent as one fit for a father figure. And there was Joakim. I couldn't tell whether he wanted me alive or not, but how did he not ever tell me either? Even when he was a kid, for heaven's sake, I had no idea about my… his father. For some reason, though, I accepted what Anna said as fact; she knew a little something about having siblings keep a secret for years on end.

My face must've looked pretty blank, because Anna started waving her hand in front of it. "Hello? Erik? You there?"

In my shaken mood, it became very annoying very quickly. "Stop it!" I slapped her hand away.

Anna flinched, but tried not to show it. "Sorry. I'm not used to being… sensitive. I know it must suck, but I don't know what you feel like right now, and hopefully, I never will. But hey, look on the bright side! You have a family here. I'm here, and I'm sure you and Kristoff will hit it off just fine. You can even come to our wedding, when we get time to plan it. You and your wife Elsa, once she knows who you are again."

"I'm not married." Anna and I swung our heads at breakneck speeds to find Elsa standing in the doorway, her poise replaced with a shocked slouch.

• • •

Anna got up from her seat and helped Elsa stumble over to it. Elsa didn't look collected when she sat down; her hands, folded across her lap, were trembling, and her petrified eyes were staring straight ahead.

"Don't worry, Elsa, it'll be over quick." Anna assured, "You just have to wait until the memories come back… I know, it's going to hurt, but I know how you're feeling. I felt that when I found out about your ice, Elsa. I guess troll magic isn't _that_ strong."

Her words went right over Elsa's head. Elsa instead turned to me with those crystal clear eyes, which I couldn't look directly into. "You're my husband? Since when?" Then she clenched her teeth and slammed her eyes shut in pain, and her foot began stomping the ground. I looked at Anna, who was sure it would be over in minutes, and sure enough it was. I looked at Elsa obliquely again. I was afraid I would start feeling those horrid symptoms of my sickness, but just the faintest whispers of them found their way into my body, and I was well enough to talk.

"I know it's crazy, but I'm married to you. Have been for three years." I thought about her standing at the door. "How long were you listening to us?"

"Long enough. You… so all those feelings, years ago, the glimmer of hope I felt, the same feeling I had when I let my powers out… that was you?" She kept her eyes affixed to the floor.

I scratched the back of my head. "We had some talks. I spilled out my life's story on you, and you did to me. There was a bit more ice than there is now, though." I gave her a little smile in hopes of getting one back.

Elsa suddenly jerked back, with terrifying memories making their way into her head. "And then you burned-"

I held up my left arm. "Frostbite. I got hurt too, and I wasn't trying to burn you, just touch your face. It was my fault, I should have thought before I did something stupid. I never did have any troll fix me up, though, so I guess we're even."

Elsa's voice shifted from one form of horror to another. "I did that?" she said, and again in a duller tone, "I did that."

The room got a little colder. "Don't feel bad, you probably did the world a favor. I've… caused some damage to other people with my fire." I was far from looking her in the eye, but I moved my head in that direction. "Okay, I'll say it. I killed some people with this god-forsaken curse. At least you don't have _that _stain on your conscience." I remembered Mikael and realized I was lying, but I didn't have the heart to bring that up.

Just then, the man I assumed was Kristoff poked his head into the room. "Um… Queen Elsa, the people are getting pretty antsy waiting in that line so long."

Elsa finally decided to look at me at the same time that I decided to look at her. It wasn't synchronized enough for our eyes to lock, but we did find each other's faces. Hers was washed with sadness, but a purposeful sadness that fills a person's face when they accept personal pain for the sake of others, a sadness that she knew too well. "I have to go, I'm sorry-"

Anna cut her sister off. "No you don't Elsa, you stay in here and talk to Erik. I'll take care of those hooligans." She pushed up her sleeves comically, and was poised to throw pretend punches into the air.

Her efforts to break up the tense atmosphere worked, and Elsa smiled. "Or else what?" she mocked.

Anna put on her best fake air of queenliness. "Or else nothing – I order you to have fun while I do your work." Anna changed into a grinning frown just as fake as her queenliness. "Oh great, now I have to do all your work. The things I do for love, yeesh." She tried to walk out with her chest puffed out and head held high, like pompous queen, but stepped on her own skirt and fell to the ground.

Elsa couldn't hold back her laughter now, and she made the funniest awkward snorting chuckle I'd ever heard from anyone, Anna included. Her eyes widened and she blushed from the embarrassment, which only made her laugh even more. I couldn't help but join in, and Anna and Kristoff followed suit. Within seconds, we were all rolling on the floor cackling like children. After a while, we weren't even laughing at Anna's joke anymore, we were just laughing because the person next to us was. Nobody wanted it to end, and everyone was happy, so we kept on laughing until, eventually, someone had to breathe.

"I got to tell you, Elsa, I really wouldn't mind having Anna as a sister. That woman is insane, but she's the best kind of insane," I managed to say between gasps for breath and resurging giggles.

"Well, that insane woman better get to following her own orders, then," Elsa was starting to win back her speech from the laughter, but not very much. "You said yourself you'd do all my work."

"Hmm, I don't know if I can get there fast enough, though," Anna suggested as the laughter finally died down a bit. Elsa took the hint, and a pair of ice skates formed next to Anna, and promptly skated away on a path Elsa froze for them. Anna stumbled to keep up. "Hey, that's not fair!" she yelled, just as another pair of skates formed underneath her feet, and she chased the first pair out of the room and into the hallway. Kristoff helped a still giggling Elsa off the ground, and then me. He gave me a friendly handshake. "Hey, I'm Kristoff. I take it that you're Erik?"

"Yes, sir, that it correct," I said with the tip of a fake hat.

Kristoff smiled. "You have my girlfriend's sense of humor, I see. I'll see you around, I guess. Here's to getting to know each other better." He left with a clink of a fake glass.

I turned to Elsa, who was still smiling, staring wistfully at nothing in particular. "I needed that. It feels so good just to laugh, even if it's for no reason. Anna's such a great sister… if only I was a sister like that to her."

"Don't worry about that. You are now, and that's what matters, isn't it?"

"I suppose. It's just that… I was so caught up in my powers for the last, what, thirteen years that I never considered anything else. Now that I can remember them, even our 'conversations' were just a string of complaints about our lives."

"Trust me, I know the feeling."

Elsa raised an eyebrow and took a step towards me. I noticed her icy dress again for the first time since I saw her in the throne room. "You know, you don't have to say that anymore. I know you know the feeling. I you know that I trust you."

I put a foot forwards, and then another. I felt butterflies in my stomach, but they weren't the painful ones that came when I felt sick. "I know, I'm just not sure about anything anymore, and I need affirmation. I didn't even know my own father-"

"Shh." Elsa put her finger to my lips without actually touching them. "I know."

Without thinking, I wrapped my right hand around the hand she had next to my face. We were both very briefly frightened, but nothing happened as I held on; no sizzle, no pain, no burning, no frostbite. With a deep, welling euphoria, I stared into her crystal blue eyes, and her into my swirling red ones, and we kissed.

I'll spare you the details, but rest assured, they were wonderful details.


	15. Part 3, Chapter 15

XV.

I was the first to stumble out of the room, gasping and grinning and covered in melting frost. Elsa tumbled out afterwards with disheveled hair running down her shoulders, and clumps of her dress were solid sheets where the icy lace had melted and refrozen. She looked at me with an ear-to-ear smile. "Where were you on coronation day? I could've used someone like you."

I was so caught up in the present that I had almost forgotten about the past. "Oh, you know, hiding out in some mountain. Who cares? I'm here now." I realized that I meant what I said to the letter. I could only see a beautiful future, and so could Elsa, from her expression. The past was in the past.

She didn't get to reply with words, though, because Kristoff burst into our conversation for the second time that day. He was panting like a dog. "Queen Elsa, you really need to come now. There's not even a line anymore; it's a mob! The guards can't keep them back much longer, and Anna keeps trying to punch them in the face." Kristoff, forced to wait for Elsa's reply, stopped panicking long enough to look the two of us over. "Whoa, what happened here?"

Elsa stood up straight. "Never mind that, tell Anna I'll be right out."

"Okay, hurry." Kristoff raced off to go help Anna, leaving Elsa and me alone again in the hallway.

Elsa turned her attention to me. "Eric, I'm sorry, but I really have to-"

"Shh. I know. I'm coming with you."

She smiled. "Not in those clothes, you're not." I noticed after she had that I was still in the commoner's clothes Lilly and Harald had given me. "Go to the last room in this hall, to the right, I'm pretty sure father kept some clothes in there." She looked at her own dress, and with one row of sparkles starting from her feet and another from her chest, she restored it to its former glory. The braid was beyond repair, though, so she just pulled it out entirely and let her loose hair flow off of one shoulder. She walked away with the same grace she had when I had first seen her in the throne room, but with a little bounce in her step.

In the room at the end of the hall I found a collection of kingly garments, folded neatly and stacked on labeled shelves. I picked out a shirt, pant, and suit from the shelf labeled 'summer', and found to my relief that they were my all size. I didn't feel strange in the King's clothes at all; with a deep breath, a ring of fire started at my navel and spread outwards through the clothes, adding swirls of red and orange and grey and burnishing any trimming with the color of heated brass. It flowed into the silk cape I put on my back, and a wave of flames ousted the purple and green patterns in favor of more energetic red ones laced with smoke. I rubbed my nose. "Well, that just happened," I thought out loud. I figured that if Elsa could repair her dress, there should be no reason why I wouldn't be able to transform my own clothing, but the feeling was still strange. My fire had always caused discomfort, and to witness it doing something as harmless as coloring a suit instead of burning people was a little unsettling.

I shook my head and made my way back to the throne room, to help Elsa out in any way I could to stop the mob. The sight was unbelievable; the crowd had broken though the throne room doors that fed in from the waiting area, and the only thing that was keeping them from piling on the royal family was a solid wall of ice Elsa had erected. On the other side of the clear wall, guards were being tossed around like potatoes, and torches and pitchforks and screaming people hacked away at the ice. Elsa was running around fortifying the weaker sections; Kristoff was standing by with fingers plugging his ears, and Anna was adding to the uproar of the mob by shouting back at them. It was all too loud. I took a deep breath, a monstrous, voluminous breath that shouldn't have been humanly possible to take, and blasted my voice with the force of a raging fire, "Quiet!"

The room dropped to dead silence, and the crowd stared at me, as did Anna, and Kristoff, and Elsa. An ugly, old little man with a straw hat on his head spoke up with a booming voice from the front of the mob before long. "Who does this guy think he is, telling us to shut up?"

A conflicted Elsa turned to face me. She didn't want her ice to get out of control, and cause more harm than she already had with the Great Freeze. But her face said that she was done hiding; she wouldn't conceal what she was feeling. Her expression grew resolved and quite a bit annoyed, and she quickly rose up into the air on a pillar of ice that loomed over the people. "That _guy_ is my husband, and so is your King." she projected to the crowd, "Bow to him, show your respect."

Before I knew it, I was on a pillar identical to Elsa's, but the people didn't move a muscle. No one was foolish enough to speak this time, but it was obvious that nobody believed her. It wasn't obvious that Elsa was getting angry, though, until parts of the room began frosting over.

"Bow, or else." Elsa hissed with an icy wind. Most of the throne room was now frozen, and snow had started dusting the clear ice.

"Elsa?" Anna timidly brought herself into view.

"What?" Elsa was still piercing the crowd with her eyes as they slowly got on their knees and bowed to me.

Anna took a stronger stance. "Stop. You don't want to do this. You don't want to use your powers to hurt people, but just look at what you're doing now. Stop."

Elsa's eyes widened and she took a step back, right off of her pillar. Another one rose up to catch her, but then the pillars and ice wall faded through the ground, leaving Elsa standing, bewildered at what she had just done to the now fear-stricken people of Arendelle. "You may stop bowing now." She barely murmured loud enough for everyone to hear, even in the noiseless room. "From an orderly line, and speak only when spoken to, and we will address each your grievances individually." She silently walked over to her throne; Anna and Kristoff made their way over to their seats, and I sat wordlessly in the throne next to Elsa's.

The first man who came up was the ugly one who had made Elsa angry. I glanced over at Elsa's face, half expecting it to be contorted with rage, but it wasn't. It was calm and regal, the face fit for a queen. It was by no means relaxed, or happy, but it was calm. "You may speak," Elsa instructed the man.

He fell to the ground and bowed to his Queen. "Your Majesty, I had no idea-"

"Apologize to the King, not me. He's the one you insulted."

The man turned his bow to me. "Your Majesty, the King, I apologize for my rash behavior. Please don't hurt me." He let out a pathetic little whimper and didn't take his eyes off of the floor.

I did my best to keep my expression and voice as level and authoritative as Elsa's. "It's okay, I pardon you. I suppose I owe an explanation to you as well as all the people of Arendelle." The multitude looked up at my offer. I checked for Elsa's approval before continuing. "I was Prince Erik of Fordane, younger bother of King Joakim." Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"Three years ago, I was married to your queen. But then, certain… circumstances arose, and I was erased from the minds of the people. I apologize for that, but it was out of my control, or the control of anyone here." Everyone knew I was speaking of the past King and Queen of Arendelle. More whispers spread from person to person, and some people began shifting around.

"This morning, those circumstances ended. I am now here to serve you as your King, second in power to Queen Elsa, of course." I looked at the man, who was still bowing, clutching his straw hat with one hand. "You can get up now. Is that all?"

He obviously had come to the palace to say something, but was too scared and cowardly to say it. "Yes."

"Then you are dismissed." He ran out of the room faster than I thought his age would allow him to. "Next."

An older man with silvery hair walked up, but didn't bow or wait to receive permission to speak. "Erik?" Harald asked.

I stopped Elsa before she could say anything. "It's okay, I know this man," I whispered to her privately, and then raised my voice for the public. "Before you start, sir, I would like for the people, and Queen Elsa, to know something about you. When I found my way back to Arendelle two days ago, the day after Queen Elsa's coronation, I was in an unfavorable condition. This man and his wife found me, took me in, and nursed me back to health from my emaciated state. I swear, if it wasn't for these people, I would be dead right now. He and his wife saved my life; they are heroes."

The crowd didn't know how to respond, until an anonymous person brought their hands together. A few people began clapping, and the room slowly filled with applause. Harald's face became red with nervousness, and he shifted around uncomfortably. Elsa looked at me to check if my story was true, and then smiled at Harald.

"You may speak, hero," she said as the applause awkwardly died down.

Harald put his weight on his right leg. "Your Majesty the Queen, what are you going to do about food? The Great Freeze froze nearly every crop and livestock animal in Arendelle, and people are going hungry. Any food that can be salvaged is too expensive for anyone to buy." The people murmured their matching sentiments.

Elsa took command and looked the whole crowd in the eye. On the cusp of a monumental official statement, she took a deep breath before starting. "I have a plan to solve the problems cause the Great Freeze, for which I accept full responsibility. All people whose property was damaged by the Freeze will be compensated with money from the Imperial Funds. Until next growing season, all tariffs on foodstuffs are hereby eliminated; the government will pay for all shipping, allowing the people to purchase foreign foods for the same price that they would normally buy domestic foods for. Nearby kingdoms have been informed of the food shortage, and a few merchant ships should be here in time for supper tonight."

The crowd was glued to her words, so she continued her declaration. "In addition, I recognize that, since my father's advising group dissipated with his passing, that I will need new help in governing the people. But I want it to help me govern the people well, so I will make it a representative body of 10 men and women, chosen via popular election by any adult who wishes to vote. I sincerely hope that this Board of the People will help us recover from the Freeze together."

A general sense of approval and satisfaction flowed through the masses. Elsa concluded, "If that answers your question, you may leave. Elections will be held within a week." The crowd trickled out of the door they had crashed down not but half an hour earlier. Every person left, even Harald, and finally only Kristoff, Anna, Elsa and I were left in the room. Anna got up from her seat and stood in front of Elsa, and stared at her sister with her jaw dropped.

"That… Elsa, that was amazing!" She ran up and yanked Elsa out of her throne by the wrist and embraced her with an enormous bear hug. Elsa, caught off guard, had the wind knocked out of her, but hugged Anna back. They split after a minute or so.

"Care to explain the hug?" Elsa smiled at Anna.

"It's just that- you were so in control, so powerful, so majestic! I didn't know you could do that! Heck, I didn't know that _anyone _could do that!"

"Well, she is the queen, you know," Kristoff chimed in. "It's kind of her job to be in control."

Anna rolled her eyes at him. "Not like that, dunderhead, you know what I mean." She beamed at Elsa again. "You managed those people almost better than you manage ice. You were so calm, so cool, so collected, while I was busy yelling my face off."

A little disappointment tainted Elsa's voice. "No, I wasn't. I was about to freeze everything again, I was so irritated…" She looked at her sister, and then grabbed her for a hug to rival the first one. Elsa kept her hands on Anna's shoulders when she stepped back. "If it wasn't for you, I would've. You saved Arendelle from me, again, for the second time in the last three days."

Kriftoff opened his mouth again. "You know, Queen Elsa, if Erik there hadn't shown up, you'd probably still be building up that ice wall you had going."

Both girls turned to me. I blushed a little. "I was kind of scared that, after three years, I would have no idea how to be royalty again. First day back, and I have to stop a palace riot? Are you this hard on all your new recruits?"

Elsa giggled. "Well, seeing as you're the second one, after Kristoff, I guess not. Maybe Kristoff needs to stop a few angry mobs before he can be the official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer."

"Hey, stopping a riot is part of his job description!" Kristoff defended himself. "Make me stop some rioting ice, if you want to make it fair."

Elsa raised a mischievous eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Why-" Kristoff remembered the snow monster that had guarded Elsa's ice castle days earlier. "Right, probably shouldn't have said that. Kinda forgot that you could, you know, make actual rioting ice."

Elsa gave Kristoff mercy lightheartedly. "Maybe I'll be easy on you, and just stick you in a room full of Olafs."

"Who's Olaf?" Anna was right, I did have a lot of catching up to do.

"A talking snowman Elsa made." Kristoff brushed past the explanation as if it wasn't remarkable. "Where is the little guy, anyways? I haven't seen him all day."

"You didn't think I just made up an Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer for no reason, did you?" Elsa said without any hint of annoyance or anger, "He's off doing your job, with Sven." I didn't ask who Sven was; if I had actually voiced every question I had, we would have been up in the throne room for the rest of the day.

Anna's stomach grumbled. "Whoo, all this political stuff has made me hungry. Anyone up for lunch? Or dinner, or whatever."

"I'll go get something from the merchant ships when they come," Kristoff offered. "We should get washed up. I know what just happened made me sweat, and I didn't even do much."

Elsa and Anna agreed, so Kristoff walked me over to the men's bathhouse as they left for the other. Kristoff and I both took a quick bath for the sake of cleaning ourselves, and then he showed me to a sauna that was already hot and steamy for our arrival. We sat for a few hours, and later had dinner with Anna and Elsa. By the end of the meal, I was tremendously tired. In the course of a day, I had gone from being the pitiful remains of an inmate to being the King. In the course of a day, Elsa had gone from not knowing I exist to rekindling that first connection we had three years prior.

Elsa showed me to a room that, thankfully, was not the first room I had slept in upon arriving in Arendelle. That night, for the first time in my life, I had a perfect, stress free sleep, without any worry about being sick, or what Elsa thought of me, or having enough food to not collapse from exhaustion the next day.


	16. Part 3, Chapter 16

XVI.

The next month sailed by so smoothly that at times I had to decide whether or not I was dreaming. I would wake up every morning in a clean, comfortable bed, and would be greeted to breakfast with people who cared about me. Elsa and Anna and Kristoff and I would chat until our mouths got dry, and then take a sip of water and keep talking. Every now and then, Olaf would literally stick his head in to give an update on something. I grew fond of him fairly quickly; with his humorously innocent personality, it would have been impossible not to. He was always helping people out, whether it was entertaining a diplomat while he or she waited to speak with Elsa or working with Kristoff and Sven, who I learned was Kristoff's reindeer, to haul ice.

Elsa and I would do our official work after lunch: receive comments from the people, sign important documents, or meet with the Board of the People. The Board of the People was an interesting group, because it did exactly what it was designed to do. Arendelle had elected a member from every section of the population. There was a farmer, and a banker, and a blacksmith, and a merchant, each one representing the needs of people in the same trade.

The hours after sunset never failed, though, to outshine the rest of the day. When we finished eating dinner, someone would always talk with someone else. Some nights I spent discussing the joys of the outdoors with Kristoff, others were loud debates with Anna about art and paintings. A couple of times, we even all sat together in a lounge room and took turns making each other laugh, and brought in Olaf for reinforcements if we weren't hysterical by the end of the night. Most nights, though, I spent sitting next to Elsa on her bed. We would always start out by trying to organize the events and feelings of that hectic week of Elsa's coronation, but the conversation would quickly dissolve into something lighter, and much happier. Even when we were determined to express our deepest, darkest feelings, we both left the conversation looking into the future with nothing but optimism. Of course, we had plenty of deep and dark things we could have wasted our time throwing at each other, but there was no point in depressing ourselves. In that first month, Elsa and I had grown our initial sparks of interest into a full-out fire.

One night after dinner, the four of us were sitting in the lounge room, itching to see the hilarious antics Anna had come up. She didn't have a smile on her face when she got up, though. She looked worried, and concerned, and started speaking timidly directly at Elsa.

"Elsa?"

"What's the matter, Anna? Is something wrong?" Elsa masked her confusion with a gentle, caring tone.

"I need something from you. Kristoff and I both do." Anna prompted him to stand up, and join her in the front of the room.

"What?" Elsa grew a little apprehensive, not knowing what to expect.

"We would like…" Anna started.

"Your blessing…" Kristoff glanced at Anna to make sure he was stepping in the right direction.

"Of our marriage." Anna concluded abruptly and, half hiding her face, studied Elsa to anticipate her response.

I didn't understand why Anna was being so nervous about marrying her boyfriend of one month; they'd spent more time together than Elsa and I had. "I'm sorry, I'm confused."

Elsa jumped when I spoke. "Where did you hear that?" She shook her head and turned to Anna. "Sorry, Anna," She rapidly backtracked on her comment when she realized that her poor choice of words had made dread start creeping up Anna's face. "Of course, Anna, of course! You'll have my blessings a thousand times over!"

Anna relaxed and smiled back at her sister. "Oh, thank you, Elsa! For a moment there, I thought you were going to-"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to say _those_ words again. But you know, you've known Kristoff for over a month now. I don't think you even knew Hans for an hour," Elsa said. Anna shuddered at the name Hans.

"Am I missing something here?" I couldn't put the bits and pieces together.

Elsa answered me with warmth directed at Anna. "No, you're not. Nothing important, anyways. She'll be married in two days. I'll get you a priest, and we'll send out the invitations as soon as possible."

Anna bounced up and down ecstatically, giddy with excitement, and Kristoff held her by the waist and spun her around in joy. Anna's words couldn't keep up with her thoughts.

"Oh, Elsa! It'll be perfect! We'll be all dressed up, and be all romantic when the priest reads us our vows, and have a ball after- oh, and we can't forget about the food! We can have cakes and pies and roast pork and all the guests will be dancing and eating and wishing us a happy marriage! We need to start planning right away- who are we going to invite?"

There was a general sense of excitement as we made a list of invitees for the ceremony. Being locked up for three years, and hidden away for the years before that, I only could contribute one name to the list. At the time, I felt a little unhelpful for that, but soon enough I would be regretting my one and only suggestion.

• • •

It was time. After two days of planning, it was finally time. In the finest ceremonial hall the Arendelle castle had, rows of chairs faced a central stage, upon which two throne-like chairs studded with emeralds stood, ready to accommodate the bride and groom. I took my seat in the front row, with Elsa to my left and a blank seat to my right. Before long, all of the invitees had settled in but one, who rushed in just as Kristoff made his way to his chair.

"Sorry I'm late, sorry," Joakim whispered to the members of the audience that were either disapproving of him or confused by him. He took his seat next to me in the front row, and leaned over to whisper in my ear, "So, you're a king too? Nice, very nice."

Elsa was entrenched in the ceremony as Anna walked out on stage, and I wanted to be too. I wasn't about to be distracted from a second set of marriage vows. I shushed my brother and pointed silently at the couple as the priest walked up to the stage.

The priest, an ancient, short, ugly man with fading hair to compensate for his booming voice, opened up a little book and began reading. "I hereby join in marriage Princess Anna of Arendelle and Kristoff of Arendelle, I guess." I waited for him to say something else, as did Elsa, and just about everyone else in the room. But the priest simply closed his little book and walked off of the stage as if he had just run a small errand. He didn't have the crowd's eyes on him for too long, however, as Joakim burst out of his seat and began yelling at the man.

"How dare you, priest! I'm not an expert in Arendelle's customs, but I'm pretty sure they don't include skipping over the marriage vows!"

Elsa kept a calm face, but I could tell that she was fighting the urge to put Joakim's head in a block of ice. I faced my brother. "Joakim, would you please sit down?"

He raised his voice without actually looking at me. "No, I will not sit down. I demand that this couple gets the marriage they deserve!"

I stood up to get in his face, and said with a firm voice, "As King of Arendelle, I order you to sit down." I didn't get why he was acting so unruly; he was nothing like the caring, intelligent brother I remembered having as a child.

Joakim squinted his eyes at me in contempt. "Touchy, touchy! Well, seeing as you married into Arendelle, and I am, after all, a King myself, I think the only person in this room who can give me an order would be Queen Elsa. I'll sit down, not because you ordered me to, but for Queen Elsa's sake."

In the commotion Joakim caused, the priest had slipped out of the room unnoticed. Kristoff and Anna rose from their seats; a few people gave an awkward applause, but stopped when they saw that Anna was on the verge of tears. Kristoff walked Anna out of the hall, and I thought about following them. I tugged on Elsa's sleeve.

"Come on, it looks like you need to cheer you sister up."

Elsa wordlessly agreed with me, and spoke softly to the crowd before leaving. "The ceremony is over. Food and refreshments may be found in the dining hall." She glided over to the exit Anna had taken. I noticed for the first time that night that Joakim had come without his wife, but I had to cut my thought short to follow Elsa, who was already gone.

We found that Anna was in her room by the sounds of her crying. Elsa knocked on the closed doors.

"Anna?"

"Go away, Elsa."

Elsa found that the doors were unlocked, so we went in anyways. Anna was sitting on the side of her bed next to Kristoff, much like Elsa and I often did. She had her head buried in her hands, and Kristoff's arm was draped around her shoulder.

"I said go away." Anna didn't take her face out of her palms.

"It's okay, Anna. Be happy, you're married now." Elsa put a soft hand on Anna's shoulder.

"I guess I technically am." Anna shrugged Elsa's hand off without removing Kristoff's arm. "But you said you'd find me a priest! From all the priests in all of Arendelle, you had to pick the one that would ruin my wedding?" Anna accused.

Elsa was speechless, so I spoke for her. "Come on, be reasonable-"

"You shut up," Anna immediately hissed at me. "Your buffoon of a brother isn't fit to rule a field of turnips, what possessed you to let him into my wedding?"

Kristoff pulled Anna in closer to him. "Let's step outside. You just need some fresh air." Elsa and I stepped aside to allow them to walk out. Anna stopped at the door to say one last thing to Elsa.

"You know what, Elsa? You gave our marriage your blessings, and then everything went wrong." Anna sniffled. She knew she was overreacting, and that she was about to cross a very sensitive line, but she continued anyways. "Even without ice, your blessing is just a curse."

I didn't see Anna or Kristoff for the rest of the night, and I only saw Elsa again after a lonely dinner in a dining hall full of people. I did my best to entertain the guests for as long as I had to, bringing in Olaf about half way through to help me out, before asking them to leave.

Late into the night, I found Elsa in her room, after melting the ice off of her frozen doorknob. Her entire room was thick with snow, and she was lying across the bed with her face in the mattress. I knew why.

"Elsa, I know Anna didn't mean what she said. She's just troubled right now, and needs you not to be. It'll blow over soon enough."

Elsa rolled over to her back to reveal gloved hands. "She was right, though. Even when I think I'm doing the right thing, I'm not. I just need to stay out of the way." She released a heavy sigh. "You know, conceal it."

"Elsa, Anna looks up to you. She needs for you to be strong, because she knows if you can handle it, then everything will turn out okay. Be strong, for her sake."

Elsa sat up. There were no tears in her eyes, but any that would've formed would have fallen to the ground as ice anyways. "Fine, I'll try. Where is she?"

"I can't say I've seen her or Kristoff since you last did."

Elsa gave me a disconcerted look. "It's almost midnight, shouldn't she be in her room, or in the halls near it?"

I shook my head. "I've checked the castle, I can't find her anywhere."

Elsa's expression morphed into one of panic, and she only could muster up three words. "Where's my sister?"


	17. Part 4, Chapter 17

**Part Four – After the Sequel**

XVII.

Anna's eyes drifted apart woozily as the blurred image in front of her clarified. She was in a dark, stony room, without any windows or doors from what she could see. Her vision was limited, since the only light in the place was a lone beeswax candle burning in the center of the room. The air was hot and humid and stank of moldiness. Anna didn't know where this strange place was, or why she was in it, so she tried to stand up.

She couldn't. Her legs and body and arms were bound with coarse rope to a rough wooden chair, and her mouth had a cloth strap tied across it. As she realized the position she was in, she began squirming, and became aware of a throbbing pain on the back of her skull. She let out a muffled groan, which was answered with a maniacal chuckle.

Anna stopped making noise to listen. Someone else was in the room with her. The man who had laughed spoke from directly behind her. "Having fun?" That voice sounded eerily familiar. The man untied Anna's muffle.

"King Joakim?"

He produced another sickening laugh. "So, you recognize me. Good job! Would you like a cookie?" The man who had rudely interrupted Anna's wedding slowly walked around to the other side of the candle to reveal himself, in full royal regalia.

Rage boiled inside of Anna, but she had no idea where she was or why she was there, so she held back a little. "If you have a chocolate one," she muttered sarcastically through clenched teeth.

Joakim was amused. "Okay, then! I'll check the cookie jar. Now, don't run off while I'm gone." He turned his back to Anna and started walking.

"Stop!" Anna burst to stop Joakim in his tracks. "Tell me where I am first!" He did stop, and spun around to look at Anna with that same malicious grin.

"Now, why would I do that? It would just ruin the fun, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Anna screamed almost hysterically at him, "What do you mean, ruin the fun? Like ruin the fun of a marriage? Which, by the way, you got invited to by the brother _you_ helped imprison! Ruin the fun my foot! Tell me where I am!"

Joakim's smile dissolved into a frown of annoyance and general loathing. "It would be wise of you to control your temper, Princess."

Anna spat at him. "Why would I do that?"

The vile grin returned to Joakim's face. "I was hoping you'd say that." He faded into the darkness and kicked a chair over into the candlelight. An unconscious Kristoff fell to the stone floor with the chair he was tied to. His hair was matted with blood, and his muffle was a deep red. Joakim forcefully jerked the chair upright again, and brandished a dagger, which he held up to Kristoff's throat.

Anna stifled a squeal and held back her tears. She was confused, and concerned, but mostly furious. More than anything, she wanted to scream and kick and punch that stupid smirk off of Joakim's face, but the glint of the blade pressed against her husband's skin convinced her not to.

Joakim's smile grew wider at Anna's silence. "I see we have come to an understanding. Isn't it amazing what a little piece of metal can do to someone's attitude?"

Anna fidgeted with the ropes that bound her in a vain effort to covertly untie them. It wasn't vain for secrecy, as Joakim had no idea she was trying to escape, but because the ropes were knotted to the point that someone would have had to cut her out of them.

Joakim adjusted his posture to appear more intimidating, keeping his knife pointed at Kristoff. "And now that I have your attention, I get to have my rant. Ooh, how exciting!" He made sure Anna's anger had melted into fear before proceeding. "There's a very good reason that I interrupted your wedding. I'll get to that, your wedding, I mean. You see, it was just another cog in my master plan, to rid the world of Erik, and Elsa."

Anna's dropped jaw and bulging eyes betrayed the terror that Joakim had bred inside of her. He relished the feeling, and so dragged out a pause before elaborating further.

"I didn't ever think I would want them dead. Heck, for the longest time I was trying to _protect_ Erik from his sickness, and I didn't even know Elsa existed until their marriage. For years, father kept telling me in private how we needed to get rid of Erik, but I always said that I could fix his fire problems. I was so naïve back then, to think Erik could be saved. But father always said yes, and was always nice to Erik per my request. I looked out for the creep until the day he left Fordane for Arendelle.

"It was after Erik had left that I realized just how much of a pain he had been, because I suddenly didn't have to deal with him anymore. I could just spend time with my father, and my wife, and study without having to sit Erik by a fire. It was two months later before I even thought about Erik again, and it was because father and I were called over for a meeting with the King and Queen of Arendelle." Joakim's smile curled up at Anna's twitching; she knew what was coming next.

"And you let him be jailed," Anna accused in a hollow voice.

Joakim waved his dagger around Kristoff's throat. "Let's not get touchy, now. I have a feeling your lover here wouldn't like to wake up with a slit throat." Anna slumped her shoulders to match her voice, and Joakim continued, "Father let him be jailed. I felt rather uneasy about it at the time, and for a few months afterwards. But then father… passed. It was a very traumatic experience, and it changed me. For the next two and a half years, as I ruled as King of Fordane, I kept thinking of the things father had said about Erik. And a few weeks ago, I had an epiphany.

"Erik had been, as my father had said, a nuisance, but he was also a threat. I never really had thought about it before, but for years Erik could have literally burned all of Fordane to the ground. He was a murderer – he had killed our mother with fire, and I've heard he almost did the same to your sister. There was a very good reason for Erik to be locked up; he was a danger to everyone.

"When I heard news of the Great Freeze, I was shocked. There was _another _freak like Erik?" Joakim snorted. "I couldn't believe it. Not only was there another freak, that other freak was his wife. Those two together could cause so much havoc, and hurt so many people. I had nightmares of a world engulfed in flames and ice at the same time. I knew what I had to do."

Anna bit back angry tears. "So you became an even bigger monster than Erik or Elsa could have been?" she snarled. "That makes perfect sense." Anna had no trouble shutting up, though, when Joakim slowly pressed the knife into Kristoff's neck and drew a little blood.

"Be quiet, it's rude to interrupt." The irony turned any remaining anger Anna had into anxiety. "I knew I had to kill Erik and Elsa. Believe me, it's all with good intentions. I care about the people. I knew I had to kill them, because their two lives are worth sacrificing for the thousands they would hurt in the future. And I knew it had to be me who killed them, because anybody I could have told would have freaked out and gotten Fordane in a war with Arendelle. I sent my wife away to a month's vacation; she's too sentimental about these things, and she knew Erik well. I didn't want her to feel more pain than was necessary.

"I had no idea how I was going to carry out my plan, though, until this man showed up one day at the castle doors." The ugly, old man who had made Elsa angry in the riot a month earlier emerged from the darkness. Anna was confused at the connection the man had to Joakim until he took his straw hat off.

"The priest?" Anna murmured.

"Once again, Anna, your skills of recognition amaze me. Remind me to give you that cookie. Yes, this man, whose name I'll keep private for his sake, is the one who helped me formulate my master plan. He said he had been the apprentice of an oracle who had met with my uncle from my mother's side about Erik's powers. He said that he knew how to destroy Erik and Elsa, and save the people once and for all. He explained to me how Erik and Elsa were two opposing sides of the same force, and if they came into contact, they would annihilate each other. I reminded him that they were married, but he told me they would have to want to kill each other for their curses to truly be eliminated.

"At that point, we created a plan together. I would like to detail to you every last bit of it, but alas, some parts of it are still to be executed, and I don't want to jeopardize what I have already built up. I will say this: you've seen what we've been doing. The riot in the palace, your wedding, they were all leading up to this point. Now, you're probably wondering what you sitting in that chair has to do with my plan to save humanity."

Anna coughed meekly. She was noticing the throb in the back of her head more and more with time. "Where am I?"

"You know what? You've been a good sport so far, so I'll answer your question. You're in a prison tower in Fordane. Erik and Elsa will inevitably come looking for you, and when they follow the obvious hints I left behind in Arendelle, they'll show up in this very tower. Elsa will be mad, and Erik will be mad for Elsa's sake. I'll provoke Erik a little, and he'll shoot his fire at me, and I'll sidestep to dodge it, and oops – what do you know? Erik burns Elsa's dear sister Anna to a crisp." Joakim hissed on the word crisp. "They'll take care of the rest. Elsa will kill Erik for killing you, and Erik will kill Elsa in self-defense. The world will be rid of their dangerous curses for good."

Anna would have been screaming her head off at Joakim, but she was preoccupied with crying her panicked heart out. Joakim looked down at her tear-streaked face, savoring the complete control he had over the situation, and Anna herself.

"I'm sorry I have to be the villain here, I really am. I know I was rather unpleasant to you just now, but I had to be, to get you in the right mood for when your sister and my brother show up. But someone has to do the dirty work, for the greater good of the people." Joakim turned his glance to the man whose throat his dagger was pointed at. The glimmer of hope he had given Anna disappeared. "As for your husband, we just picked him up as a souvenir. He was conveniently next to you, so we let him tag along, incase we wanted to use him to break your spirits." Anna cringed as his devilish smile unfurled again. "I would say that you're just about broken beyond the point of rebellion now. I guess we have no need for your dear husband anymore, then, do we?" Joakim strode over to Anna and tied her muffle back on. "Don't worry, we can have some fun once he's gone," he cackled into her ear, which he proceeded to lick on his way away from the side of her head. "Lots of fun, just the two of us."

The ugly priest opened a door previously hidden in the darkness to reveal the black sky, and a straight drop to the ground below from the unnervingly high tower. Anna kicked and thrashed and expelled smothered screams as the King of Fordane kicked her husband and the chair he was tied to into the pitch-black night, and didn't stop until she heard a faint thud.


	18. Part 4, Chapter 18

XVIII.

Elsa was locked up in her frozen room for almost a full day after Anna's wedding, with a door so iced over that any part I melted the ice from would refreeze the instant I moved to a different section. I had ordered a full search of the castle, and of Arendelle, and every guard in the kingdom had been dispatched for the cause.

Most of the morning I spent trying to keep my head straight. I felt horrible at losing the close friend Anna had become over the last month. But I kept reminding myself that it was worse for Elsa, and that she would need me to be strong. I cared about her, so I would have to curb my own wild thoughts for her sake. I couldn't tell her to be strong and support Anna without doing the same for her.

The day after Anna's wedding, a guard came to me with a sealed letter addressed to Elsa. I was about to open it, but stopped myself from breaking the wax seal. Elsa should be able to read whatever was addressed to her. I studied the wax seal, and recognized it. I told Elsa the news through her door.

"Elsa? You have a letter. Would you like to read it?"

"Is it from Anna?" Elsa sounded hopelessly depressed.

"No, it's from my brother, King Joakim. It has the Fordane royal seal and everything."

"Then you read it."

I had no other ideas on how to convince Elsa to open the door, so I broke the wax seal and began reading to myself.

_ Dearest Queen Elsa,_

_ I'm sure you're wondering where your sister is. _

I crammed the paper in my pocket and began vigorously melting the ice on Elsa's door. This letter was really for her to read. "Elsa, I'm coming in, with the letter."

"Don't."

"It's about your sister." The ice on the door suddenly began melting faster, and within seconds I was standing next to Elsa, who was sitting on the edge of her bed in much the same way her sister had been the night before. I didn't look at her face, and ignored the cold as much as I could. I pulled out the letter and, determined to deliver it in its entirety, began reading aloud.

_Dearest Queen Elsa,_

_ I'm sure you're wondering where your sister is. Well, I have some good news for you, then. I know exactly where she is; she's in the Kingdom of Fordane, as am I. I want to believe she and her husband and escaped from Arendelle to find a better life in a far off kingdom._

_The sad truth is, though, that Anna, being as she is a part of the Arendelle royal family, cannot be trusted. As far as I know, Anna and Kristoff could be spies. Therefore, I have no choice but to imprison her. I may have her executed tomorrow if she admits to having bad intentions to the Kingdom of Fordane, which I'm sure she will with a little torture here and there. _

_Unless, of course, you give me reason to think otherwise, and save your sister's life._

_Say hi to Erik for me, will you?_

_-King Joakim_

When I finally looked up from the sickening page, I found that I was the one trembling with anger, sadness, anxiety, and just about every other unsettling emotion that exists. Elsa, on the other hand, wore a completely resolved expression, as firm as a block of stone. She stood up tearlessly, and grabbed my sleeve on her way out of her room.

She spoke through grit teeth as she dragged me out with her. "I'm going to get my sister back."

• • •

We didn't take a boat to Fordane. No, Elsa was in too steady a flow to wait on any boat to start sailing, or to simply stand around on deck doing nothing while the boat moseyed along to Fordane. She strode quickly and firmly and powerfully, with my sleeve clenched in her right fist, out of her room, out of the castle, and straight past the ships' docks. I became worried when Elsa showed no signs of slowing down at the last dock in the lineup.

"Uhh… Elsa, shouldn't we get on a boat?" Then, as the edge of an empty dock approached us, "What, are you expecting to swim to Fordane or something?"

Elsa didn't turn back, didn't respond to me, and didn't stop when the dock did. Her foot bound off of the wooden platform, and the water of the fjord solidified underneath her feet. I stumbled onto the growing patch of ice, which clarified to form a streamlined racing canoe sort of shape. Elsa let go of my sleeve, and tilted her head slightly back at me.

"Hold on."

"Hold on? To what- why hold on?"

Elsa pulled her hands backwards, and a flurry of ice suddenly shoved the back of the canoe into motion. Elsa thrust her hands forwards, and we were racing at incredible speeds, barely touching the surface of the water. For the first half of the ride, I just sat like a sack of potatoes, marveling at what Elsa had just done. When I accepted reality, I turned my back to Elsa, and put my arms together. Being careful not to melt the back of the canoe, I fired up a swirling, dancing jet stream of flames to accelerate the canoe to astronomical speeds. The trip from Arendelle to Fordane usually took a day or two; in Elsa's canoe, we were at the shores of Fordane by nightfall.


	19. Part 4, Chapter 19

XIX.

I stopped propelling when the boat shattered into a million pieces. Not from the heat of my fire, or anything Elsa did. It was a rock on the jagged shore of Fordane that finally stopped the canoe, and sent Elsa and me flying onto the beach. Luckily, we had avoided the sharp rocks and landed in a sandy section of the beach, about seventy feet inland. I got to my feet as quickly as I could, and in a flash Elsa was gripping my sleeve again.

"You used to live here," Elsa said flatly, "Where would Anna be imprisoned?" I probably could have convinced myself that Elsa was overwhelmingly sad, or angry, but she didn't actually look that way. She was nothing but determined; determined to get her sister back, and determined to not let her emotions cause another Great Freeze. I was honestly wondering why the beaches weren't covered in frost, and on the same track, why I hadn't felt my core heat up or had that strange heartburn the whole time Anna was gone.

The prison cells and dungeon of Fordane were on the side of the castle opposite to us, so we walked. We walked briskly, of course, to get to Anna faster, but moved slowly enough to keep each other calm. Just about any guard with eyes probably saw us, but we were never stopped. The continuity of it all, and Elsa's silence, gave me time to think. I realized why Elsa was as expressionless as she was; she was in a crisis. I thought back to those wretched days I had spent on the North mountain over a month earlier. She was in a crisis, and that crisis had focused all of her thoughts onto one point once she had Joakim's letter to focus upon.

I glanced at Elsa periodically. She showed no signs of tiring, but there was no way of actually knowing if she was getting worn down or not. She was wearing that same dress she had on at Anna's marriage, which she had, upon wearing it for the first time, transformed into an ice dress. After a day of stress, however, the elegant garment had been disfigured into a sandy mess, with swaths of the intricate lacework smearing into plates of frozen fabric.

Elsa broke her silence when we were standing in front of the largest prison tower, on the other waterfront of Fordane's castle, immediately adjacent to a shipyard full of mammoth sailboats and beat up little rafts. The stone tower rose straight up into the darkening sky; it was a solid, uninterrupted pillar, save the thick wooden door at the bottom and a distant wooden door on the top directly above the shipyard. I assumed that the door on top was merely for decoration, as it obviously led to nowhere but a hundred foot drop.

We walked with the same pace we had been walking before to the door of the tower. Elsa tried pulling open both doors by their rusty metal handles, but of course, they were locked. It was a prison, after all. I didn't know what made Elsa want to try out the tower for her sister instead of the dungeon, or even some holding cell elsewhere in the castle, but she seemed intent on getting into the tower. She banged on the doors and tried kicking them. When that failed, she took a step back, and rubbed her hands together. A loud crack later, and the doors were not only open; they were destroyed. Their remains were strewn on the ground, along with the shards of ice that had just created them.

With the end now in sight, Elsa marched purposefully onwards, up a stony staircase with moss in the cracks. I followed her, and kept a flame burning in the palm of my hand to see ahead in the dark stairwell. Elsa did nothing but climb until we reached the top of the staircase, and she stood awkwardly in front of the only door there for a long time. Her hand found its way to the door handle, but she pulled it back almost instantly upon contact. She held a half formed fist half an arm's length away from her, and then knocked on the prison door.

"Anna?"

"Come in, the door's unlocked." The voice that spoke was definitely not Anna's. It was a booming voice, and a male one at that. It sounded as upsettingly familiar to me as it did to Elsa, but neither of us could tell to whom the voice belonged. Elsa carefully grabbed the door handle, and the door creaked open. We walked in; I jumped and spun my head around when the door slammed behind us, and when I turned back around I was greeted by Anna, bloody and bruised and faint, tied up to a chair, illuminated only by a sole candle in the center of the room.

Elsa was hugging her sister in a heartbeat. She embraced her with all her might, on her knees, sobbing softly into her shoulder, as I made my way over to the chair.

Anna's weary eyes peeled open. "Elsa?" She was barely able to get the word out of her mouth, but she still managed to grow a slight smile on her face.

Elsa pulled back from her hug and sniffled, with her hands still on Anna's shoulders. "It's okay, Anna, you're going to be alright. Erik's here, and so am I, and we're going to get you out of here."

"Oh, Erik's here! How wonderful, now we can get this party started." Elsa and I whipped our heads to find Joakim staring us down with a malicious toothy grin. Anna had emitted a little whimper when Joakim spoke, and her chest was heaving with short, puffy, disturbed breaths.

This man, the same person who had so caringly looked after me as a child, who until Anna's wedding was as much an ideal person as I could think of, was now the monster I was ashamed to call my brother. I was furious; he had hurt Anna. He hadn't limited it to the relatively humane physical damage, either. He had damaged Anna mentally, to the point where the very sound of his voice could force her into an anxiety attack. And by hurting Anna, he had hurt Elsa; she was clutching the shuddering Anna as tightly as she could, as much to calm herself down as to relax Anna. But it wasn't enough, as the cracks in between stones in the floor began sprouting ice that spread across the room. A freezing wind began blowing in the circular room, killing the candlelight and plunging everyone into darkness. I remembered my fire and my anger, and lit a flame in my palm to see my brother with cautionary hands held out in front of him.

"Now, listen to me, Erik. Don't jump to conclusions; I can explain. Just hear me out."

I was livid. I didn't need to hear an explanation; what Joakim had done was clear as day. Without thinking, I hurled the flame in my hand at his loathsome little face. "You rat!"

I had obviously missed, because when Joakim came back into view under a relit fire, he had a severe lack of burns. "I'm not the one who hurt Anna! I was waiting for you to come so we could _save _her."

His words made the fire stick to my hand. "What?" I thought about the logic of Joakim's claim. "Then why did you wait for us? You're the King, for God's sake, you can release Anna whenever you like!"

"What? And leave her in such a terrible state in the open elements? I needed you two to transport her back to Arendelle."

Joakim's argument was crumbling, and so was my willingness to listen to him. "You are a _King_, you can get a boat! Not to mention medical care or a proper room to stay in!" I shot at him and relit my hand. "You're lying!"

Joakim produced a maddeningly aggravating smile. "I know, I was just buying time."

He dove to the left, and I followed him, blasting flame balls as fast as I could. I kept missing, so I kept shooting; I lost track of where I was, I was so focused on burning that smile off of Joakim's face. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was aiming, and I finally stopped attacking when one of my shots was met with met with a cloud of ice that vaporized upon contact with the fire. In my fit of rage, I had relit the candle in the middle of the room, and, unfortunately, could see Elsa gaping at me with panic.

"What are you doing?" She stood up, and the floor and walls began growing sharp with icicles. She walked towards me. "Were you trying to burn her?"

"No, I wasn't! Elsa, I was out of control-"

"Are you with your brother on this?" Elsa was hysterical, and marching up to me with a terrible look of accusation. "Of course you are! You have been for three years now, haven't you?"

"Elsa!" I grabbed her wrists after checking to make sure they had sleeves on them. "Snap out of it! Trust me, it was an accident, I was out of control, and I'm sorry. But that's not important right now; we need to get your sister out of here."

Elsa didn't get a chance to calm down. Joakim cleared his throat jokingly from behind Anna's chair. "Speaking of sisters, Erik, why don't you allow Anna to tell you what a fun time we had, hmm?"

"What do you mean, fun time?" Elsa was still a little insane, but she directed her madness at Joakim instead of me.

Joakim ran his hand through the dried blood in Anna's hair. "Go ahead, Anna, tell your sister what a fun time we had." He knocked Anna's chair to the ground so that her eyes were pointed straight up. He gave another awful smile, the smile that severed any connection he might have still had to the kind brother I used to know.

Elsa's mind was all over the place. "What do you mean, fun time?" she repeated with more force. She examined her sister and her captor with darting eyes. She noticed that Anna's clothes were torn and tattered in places, and Joakim had scratch marks on his cheek. There were four, as if Anna had clawed him while…

Realizing what he had done to her sister, and to what extent he had damaged her, Elsa's face contorted with rage and disgust. Joakim probably would have made some vile remark, and kept grinning his sickening grin, had it not been for a crisp blue cloud that penetrated his neck. He grabbed his throat and began coughing loudly. He wasn't bleeding, but as Elsa took a firm stance and brought her trembling hand up, ice flowed out of his gaping mouth, down his chin, and around his neck. He was hacking violently, flailing his arms and struggling to breathe. Elsa, with a scowl of unadulterated loathing, began curling her quivering hand into a fist. Joakim's coughs slowed to a constricted choking sound as the ice tightened around his throat. Elsa kept her hand slightly open until Joakim was on his knees, his face blue from either the ice or the suffocation, and then killed his final gasps at air with a closed fist. He fell to the ground next to the still burning candle, and the room was silent.

Nobody spoke. Anna was too tired to, and I was still trying to absorb what had just happened. Even when a little, old ugly man sprung from the darkness and just as quickly disappeared through the main door, nobody spoke. I took a few cautious steps forwards to look at Elsa, who hadn't moved, and whose hand was still clenched in a fist half an arm's length from her body. She was mortified. I followed her horrified stare to Anna, and then glanced at Joakim's corpse by the central candle. My mind clicked violently.

Elsa had spent thirteen years locked up in her room trying to protect the ones she loved. She hid herself so that Anna wouldn't know of her dangerous powers. Even after she had begun using her powers, she was weary of anything that could make the people scared of her, especially after the Great Freeze and the mob in throne room. In her time as queen, Elsa was determined to show the world, including Anna, that her ice was not just a weapon.

She would have a hard time arguing that. Elsa knew this, and the dread on her face showed she knew why. Anna had just witnessed her sister's ice murder a man.


	20. Part 4, Chapter 20

XX.

Elsa stood petrified for a good quarter of an hour. After a while, I made my way to Anna, who was sleeping peacefully, even if that peace was brought solely by exhaustion. I recalled what Mikael had told me during our escape from prison a month ago. Yes, horrible things had just happened, but it was no time to panic. What was done was done. I needed to focus. I grabbed the back of the rough wooden chair she was in and pulled it upright, and began picking at the knotted rope tying Anna to the chair. When I decided that the ropes were hopelessly tangled, I scanned the room for something sharp. I went to Joakim first, but he had nothing in his pockets but a few slips of paper. I crammed these into my own pockets and resolved to read them later, but for the moment I needed something sharp. I turned to the only other person in the tower who was both alive and awake.

"Elsa?"

She kept staring at her sister, her hand still in a fist. She didn't move a muscle; she didn't make a sound.

"Elsa, I need something to cut Anna's ropes with. Something sharp. Do you have any ideas?"

No response, no movement.

I realized that I was only seeing whatever was in that small circle illuminated by the candle in the middle; the periphery of the room remained unexplored. I grew a small flame in my hand to use as a torch, which suddenly made Elsa break her silence.

"Don't." Her voice was pained and hollow.

I turned to her. "Don't what?"

Elsa was shaking. "Don't burn Anna."

"I'm just using it for light, so I can find something to cut her out of those ropes with." I began walking along the outer wall of the room to demonstrate.

She spoke again, with more volume and panic. "Don't hurt Anna."

"I won't, trust me." I came across a small dagger lying on the floor, and extinguished my fire to pick it up. I walked back into the light. "See? Now I can cut her-"

"Don't cut her!" Elsa shouted and took a step forward, finally putting down her fist.

"Cut her loose!" I blurted, and Elsa stopped moving. "Now I can cut her loose." Elsa calmed down a bit, so I sliced through the ropes while I had the chance. I caught Anna to keep her from plopping to the ground, and gathered her gently in my arms. She was a mess. Her wrists and ankles were raw and peeling from the tight ropes, as if they had been tied, untied, and tied again. She was bloody and bruised and in torn clothes; I couldn't bring myself to show Elsa her sister. I wordlessly walked out of the chamber in the same way we had come in, hoping Elsa was following me down the stone staircase but not actually checking if she actually was. When the stairs ended, I left the tower and walked right up to the nearest boat in the adjacent shipyard, a medium-sized sailboat that appeared to be in decent condition. I called to the only person on the deck of the boat.

"Excuse me, sir? May I ask where this ship is headed?"

The gruff man looked up from the sacks of potatoes he was stacking in a corner. "And who are you to ask?"

"The king and queen of Arendelle," Elsa said, not as calmly as she probably would have liked to. I was glad to know she was still there, and had pulled herself together enough to say something sane.

The man scoffed. "Yeah, and I'm the king of Fordane."

"I'm his brother," I said with a twinge of reluctance.

"Of course you are. Look, why don't you two go dump your corpse on some other boat?" The man pointed to the rest of the shipyard. "The captain's already taken in some almost dead guy who fell tied to a chair from the sky into our sails, the last thing we need is another body to keep track of."

Just then, another man stomped up from under the deck. "He's awake!"

"He is? Did you find out anything yet?" the first man said.

"Naw, just that his name is Kristoff. He hasn't said much else."

I jumped so suddenly that I almost dropped Anna. "I know that man!" I blurted out. The two men looked at me strangely, and I said more collectedly, "Please, let us go see him. I'm holding his wife."

The men didn't respond, and disappeared into the deck. I gestured to Elsa with my shoulder, and we tried to follow the men into the boat. We had hardly been on the ship a few seconds, though, before another man walked up onto the deck. He had small eyes and a thick grey beard and a potbelly, and judging from his hat, he was the captain of the ship.

The man tilted his head to one side. "May I ask why, exactly, you are on the deck of my ship?" He wasn't angry, just confused.

"We… overheard some of your crew mention that you have a man named Kristoff on board," I clarified. "I think he might be someone we know."

The captain's face brightened up. "Well, it's about time someone showed up! I swear, this man fell straight out of the sky, into my sails, and I've had the worst time trying to figure out who he is." He reached out for a handshake, but upon thinking about how my hands were full brought his hand awkwardly back to his side. "And who do I have the pleasure of inviting onto my ship?"

"Erik, and Elsa." I left off our titles to avoid the skepticism I had engendered in those other two crewmen. "I'm sorry, I've forgotten my manners. I never asked you your name."

"You can just call me Klaus." He was still itching for a customary handshake, but Elsa was in no mood to scratch that itch for him, and my hands were still occupied. He beckoned us forwards with a wave of a hand. "Come on, follow me. I'll show you to this Kristoff fellow."

We walked with him through a hallway lined with nondescript doors, and he stopped at one of them. He cracked the door open.

"Kristoff?" he called.

"Yes, captain?" Kristoff didn't sound like he'd fallen onto a ship from the sky, a description that I had just began questioning the logic of.

"You have some visitors." Klaus opened the door fully, and brought all four of us into view.

Kristoff was sitting upright in a small bed, with a few pillows cushioning his back and a blanket up to his waist. His regular clothes were piled up in a corner, and he was wearing a comfortable looking woolen shirt instead. His appearance from the shoulders up was a different story. His hair was disheveled and caked with blood, and his face was stained with streaks of the stuff. His neck sported a red and pink stripe, as if he had been cut there. His eyes widened upon seeing us enter the room.

"Erik? Elsa?" He sounded genuinely surprised, and then genuinely worried when his focus moved to the woman I was carrying. "Anna?"

"Ah, so it looks like you all do know each other," Klaus said. "I'll just leave you alone, then, it sounds like you have some catching up to do. Just holler if you need anything, alright?"

Elsa collapsed the moment Klaus closed the door behind him. She buried her face in her hands, sat on her heels, and cried. "I'm sorry," she choked.

She wasn't talking to anybody, but Kristoff must have thought she was addressing him. His eyes darted over to his wife, who I was just about to lay down on the bed in front of him. His hand grabbed the side of his head, and he filed his fingers through his hair as he assumed the worst. "Is she… is she…" He couldn't say the word.

"No, no, she's just asleep, she'll be fine," I reassured him. He noticed Anna's chest rising and falling with breath, and relaxed a little. I lay Anna across the bed, in his lap instead of at the foot of the bed. He gently brought his hand up to her face.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I'm sorry." Elsa took my gaze off of her sister. She was still on the floor, sitting on her heels. Little icicles were forming on her hands from her tears.

I took the few steps needed to get me next to her, and held out my hand. "Come on, Elsa, get up. Anna's fine, see for yourself. You have nothing to be sorry for."

Elsa kept one hand on her face, but sent the other one up to grab mine. I pulled my sleeve down enough to cover my skin, just incase, and stood her upright. She finally removed the other hand from her eyes, and with her now unblocked vision stared lovingly at her sister. "I'm sorry, Anna."

Without thinking, I hugged Elsa. She was caught off guard and stumbled into me when I grabbed her, but that only made me feel the need to hug her tighter. She wasn't very comfortable, as if the hug was unwelcome, but she didn't try to wriggle herself loose, so I kept hugging. I thought out loud.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Elsa. Nothing at all. You saved your sister's life, for crying out loud, you're a hero."

"How can you say that?" Elsa finally broke out of the hug. She looked straight at me with cold blue eyes. "You should be scared of me. Anna will be scared of me. I'm a hero? No, that was just a side effect. I'm a _murderer_."

"Elsa-"

"I'm a monster." She cut me off, and the floor around her feet began frosting over. "Anna was right; even when I used my ice as a blessing, even when I tried to save someone's life…" She looked down at her upturned palms. "I couldn't do it without ending another one in the process. Anna's seen what I can do. It's not pretty." She brought her eyes back up to me. "How are you not mad at me? I killed your brother."

"Don't call him that. After all the things Joakim did… you did the right thing. Trust me, Elsa; you couldn't pay me to be mad at you right now. Or scared of you, for that matter. I trust you, no matter what you think of your ice. And I know the same goes for Anna. You know how I know?"

"How?" Elsa dared me to have a solid argument as to why Anna and I should still love her. For better or for worse, I had one last resort I had been saving up since the first time Elsa and I talked after the Great Freeze.

"Because you've killed someone before."

Elsa couldn't decide between being incredulous and offended. She put her hand on her chest in the same way one does when pretending to be in disbelief, except that she wasn't pretending at all. "No, I haven't! What are you talking about?"

"My uncle Mikael. I didn't know he even existed until three years ago, when he got thrown into the same jail cell as me. The day we escaped was the day before your coronation. The next day, he got trapped in a cave by a blizzard…" I realized I was being too blunt I began feeling emotions I hadn't even felt back when the events causing them were actually happening. "I couldn't save him. I barely even saved myself; there was no way I could have saved him. He's probably still down there, in that cave…"

Elsa was mortified. What did I expect? I forced myself to remember that I was trying to make Elsa feel better, and detailing how she murdered my uncle wasn't exactly helping. The room began piling with snow. Elsa glared at her hands, and stuffed them away in her armpits, and made like she was going to leave the room.

I grabbed her arm. Desperate to keep her from escaping, I said things I would have said under no other circumstances. "Remember what happened the last time you ran away because of your powers?" I might have sounded rude, or like I was accusing her of something, but I hoped anyways that she knew of my good intentions. "What I'm trying to say is, all that stuff with Mikael happened, and I still love you." My stomach dropped a little when I noticed I had said the wrong word, but I knew the slip up wasn't a lie. I concluded, "Anna still loves you. Isn't that proof enough?"

"No." Elsa sounded cold, but not because of the ice that was beginning to crystalize on the ceiling. "Anna didn't see that one happen right in front of her face. I spent far too long trying to keep Anna safe from my curse. I get one chance to protect her by _using_ my powers instead of by hiding them, and all I did was scar her for life."

"She won't be scarred, why would she? It's not like you hit her-"

"A few feet off and I would have." The entire room was iced over by now.

"But Anna won't care. She didn't care that you actually hit her a month ago, did she?"

"How do you know about that?" Elsa refused to be consoled.

"You can't expect me to live with you for a month and not pick up on a few things." I was ready to continue my quest to make Elsa feel less conflicted, but was stopped by a weak, strained, but immensely happy voice.

"Thanks, Elsa." Anna was awake.


	21. Part 4, Chapter 21

XXI.

"Anna? You're awake?" Elsa glanced at her sister's condition, and immediately wished she hadn't. "You need to sleep, you must be tired."

Anna made a vain effort to sit upright. When she plopped right back into Kristoff's arms, he scooted to one side of the bed and sat his wife up next to him. Anna managed to pull the blanket over her legs with a throat-scarring cough to keep herself warm from the ice Elsa was applying to the room. "I'm sorry, Elsa."

I found that Elsa was repeating my conversation with her to Anna, from the other point of view. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Anna," she said. "Nothing at all. I'm the one who failed to keep you safe."

Anna gave her sister a warm, reassuring smile. "But I really am sorry Elsa. What happened at my wedding- it wasn't your fault, and I blamed it on you. I said some pretty nasty things to you, and I'm sorry." Elsa looked ready to tell Anna why she shouldn't be the one saying sorry, but Anna had one more sentence to say. "Do you accept my apology?"

Kristoff and I felt sort of intrusive at that point, as Elsa and Anna looked lovingly at each other. Anna did in a few words what I had been unable to do in a whole conversation; the room thawed, and Elsa smiled.

"Only if you accept mine," Elsa finally replied.

"Well, I do. So there. And Elsa?"

"Yes?"

"I've been through a lot in the last twenty four hours, and I could probably use a hug."

Elsa wasted no time in getting to the bedside, and in embracing her sister as hard as she could without being uncomfortable. Anna hugged her back with equal vigor, and the two glowed as every tension of that night dissolved into thin air. There was more magic in that hug, more beauty and more power, than Elsa or I could ever hope to match with fire and ice.

• • •

Eight months passed. Many things happened in those eight months, but nothing on the same level as the events that capped them.

On the first morning on board Klaus's ship, we set sail for Arendelle, and made it safely there a day later. Kristoff, Anna, Elsa and I had struck up conversation with the quirky Captain Klaus, as we came to call him, on the trip back, and he remained a good personal friend of ours, occasionally running royal errands to Fordane and occasionally being invited to dinner. A few days after we got back to Arendelle, we received news that Joakim's wife had assumed control of Fordane as Queen, and was pregnant with an heir to succeed her. I had to wonder if that heir was really Joakim's son, but it was somewhat nice to know that the government of Fordane wouldn't crumble with Joakim's death.

Every now and again, I would have nightmares about the night of Anna's wedding, but they were casual nightmares, the kind you talk about over breakfast. Anna and Elsa had a few as well, and even if he didn't want to admit it, Kristoff probably did too. Nobody had any panic attacks or anything, though; in fact, here were times in those eight months that rivaled the month before Anna's wedding in terms of a general sense of happiness.

Other than that odd bit of news or an especially excited meeting of the Board of the People meeting, not much else happened. The whole debacle with Anna's marriage started off the eight months, and afterwards…

I opened up a door to Elsa's room from the inside, so that Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf could come in. Nobody said a word, not even the usually talkative snowman, because we were all smiling. There was no reason not to be. I gently clicked the door shut and followed them over to Elsa, who was sitting in her bed with pillows piled up behind her back.

And in her arms was a baby boy, swaddled in fuzzy little woolen blanket. All that peeped out of the bundle was his face, a beautiful little face with the brightest brown eyes I had ever seen. My heart swelled with joy and pride and excitement and every emotion in between. I forced myself to stop looking at my child and take a glance at Elsa, whose face mirrored mine in the sheer magnitude of her smile.

"What should we name him?" Elsa brought her finger to the child's cheek, and he giggled amiably. Elsa giggled back at him.

I thought about Elsa's question seriously. Here was this person, who I had just met, yet I was ready to spend the rest of my life with. But it wasn't the same kind of readiness I had felt when I first met Elsa; it was just like I could talk to him for hours, whether or not he knew what I was saying. I felt like he was going to teach me a little something about being a person, whether or not he knew he was doing it. It was a different kind of readiness, a kind I had only felt once before.

"Mikael." I realized that I had been looking at the baby again, and turned my chin up to face Elsa. I repeated more confidently, "We should name him Mikael."

She agreed, but she didn't say it out loud. She didn't have to say anything out loud. She didn't have to say that she was ready for the future, a future with a child and a kingdom and a family. She didn't have to say that she couldn't feel like a monster holding such a little bundle of joy, and knowing that she helped create it. She didn't have to say that she loved Anna, or me, or baby Mikael. The best part was, I didn't have to say anything either. I just stared into her crystal blue eyes, and she into my swirling red ones.

*****Author's Note*****

**Let me just start out by saying there will be more. I'm going to be completely honest, the first four parts is something I just sort of barfed up on a whim in February and March, without paying much attention to things like... logic (I'm looking at you, Ch. 16). I'm still glad I made it a thing, but I know what the reviews say is true. It doesn't make much sense at all… yet. I'll try and get the story to a point, but I can't promise that my fickle little mind won't get in the way every now and then. Part 5 and a bit of 6 will probably be like what's up so far (sorry, I have some stuff written already), but the story should start explaining itself before long. Everything that's happened so far has happened for a reason, but I get that I didn't do a very good job of characterization… or making sense. I'll work on it, but it might take time. **

**Thanks for the constructive criticism and support, and I'll be back when I can be.**


	22. Part 5, Chapter 22

*****Author's Note*****

**I promise this is going somewhere eventually. I can't promise against 'what the crap just happened' moments, though. **

**Part Five – Seven Years Later**

XXII.

I was the last one still beside the coffin. Most of the people invited to the funeral left a little before the priest did. Anna and Kristoff had to leave when their daughter Pia got hungry. Elsa, who had to finally close the lid of the coffin on the pale face inside, left with Olaf by nightfall. But even after the darkness had conquered the sunlight, I was still there, next to the coffin. I was still there, next to my son.

I laid my hand on the lacquered wooden lid of the casket. My son was in there. I shivered at the reality of the situation. Elsa's child was in that box, as was mine. Our creation barely lived for seven years. _Seven years_. How could I call that a life? It wasn't a life; Mikael never got a chance to live. He didn't live for seven years. He lasted for seven years.

No, even that wasn't accurate. Mikael only lasted a few years, and then avoided death for the second half of his existence. As sad and unjust and cruel as I felt it was, I had to admit that, unlike that of his namesake, Mikael's death wasn't a surprise. Sure, when he had first greeted us, he was a happy, healthy baby boy, but in his first winter he began developing symptoms. Symptoms like high fevers, sweatiness, nausea, and stomachache, then and every winter afterwards. He never made any fire, so it couldn't have been the same sickness I was subjected to as a child, but the way he would describe it…

_"Daddy! My tummy hurts! It's too hot!"_

_ "Come here, Mikael." _He would run into my arms, and I would feel his forehead. It would be hot, always very hot.

_ "Daddy, my tummy hurts! My hands hurt too, and my feet hurt, Daddy! It's too hot!"_

In his early years, I would sit him next to a fire, but soon realized that it only made Mikael feel worse. He was always too hot, and the only thing that would make him feel better, even on the darkest, most bitterly cold days of winter, was Elsa's ice. She never wanted to do it, to send ice towards a member of her own family, but Mikael insisted on it every time he felt sick.

There was more. Mikael only needed Elsa to cool him down in winter, and in the heat of summer the roles would reverse. Mikael would constantly be shivering, and it was always too cold. Even during the most punishing of heat waves, he would huddle up with a runny nose under a pile of blankets, and it would be my turn to feel uncomfortable. Using my hand to generate a strong but gentle heat, a technique that his namesake helped me develop, I would rub little Mikael's bare back in a slightly less than vain effort to mitigate his suffering.

Well, at least now his suffering was finally over.

My forehead slammed forcefully on the top of the coffin and stayed there. I couldn't think of my child like that, as if he was a problem that needed to be eliminated. What kind of father- what kind of person would that make me?

Joakim. It would turn me into Joakim. A few years after her marriage, on a rare evening that found the toddler Mikael not whining with discomfort late into the night, Anna took the time to describe to me and Elsa a… speech Joakim had given her. With my idealized perception of Joakim shattered on the night of Anna's marriage, I wasn't shocked by anything Anna recalled from his threats to her, but strong memories from my childhood made the account rather disturbing. Joakim had looked out for me as a child, genuinely caring about my well-being. But one passing of an unexpectedly diabolical father later, and his life's mission became killing Elsa and me.

Anna was a little uneasy in describing Joakim's motives. He wanted to rid the world of the dangerous problems that Elsa could have been to the people, she said cautiously. Anna was right to take care though, because both Elsa and I had knots in our stomachs; it was incredibly frightening to realize that, had Joakim described his reasons like that, his plot might have actually worked. In the state of mind I was in, I could have thought of Mikael being buried alive in snow, the guards burning in our escape from prison, my mother with a hole through her torso, or Elsa's peeling face. I could have thought of those things, and Elsa of Anna herself, and Joakim's plan to have us annihilate each other might have worked.

Thankfully, though, I suppose he hadn't been manipulative enough to be so clever, but something else had undoubtedly been wrong with him. It was what had finally driven Elsa to kill him. I had no idea if it was some burning urge he had kept with him since childhood, or some concept that deranged him at father's death, or outright lunacy that drove him to… assault Anna. But whatever the cause may have been, the effects were devastating. Anna didn't have any mental breakdowns in front of me. But as time distanced Anna from the worst night of her life, Elsa and Kristoff began trickling a gruesome series of descriptions to me.

Elsa's were full of emotion, in which some event of the day caused Anna to storm into Elsa's room and punch the living daylights out of the pillows, half screaming and half violently crying how she felt bound, coerced, constricted, or vulnerable. Kristoff's tales were much more concrete, and felt at times like more of an unnecessarily vivid horror story than something an actual person did. He said he always started out by awkwardly stating to Anna that he wanted a child. He said that Anna would agree, but then realizing what that meant, would recoil in horror. One time, he said, Anna was cowering in a corner and repeating 'Don't hurt me'; another, she was clawing at him so hard that her bleeding fingernails were stuffed with clumps of his skin, and he had the marks on his chest to show for it. How Elsa and Kristoff managed to bring Anna back from these states may be better left unsaid; nonetheless, their tactics worked, and almost three years after her marriage, Anna had her first child, her daughter Pia.

I noticed that my eyes were closed and forced them open. Even this deep into the pitch-black night, the stars gave enough light for me to recognize the object my hand and head were still resting on as Mikael's coffin. I stared at my son through the opaque box.

No, I wasn't Joakim. Even if I thought my own child was better off dead, I wasn't Joakim, because I never intentionally hurt anyone in the same way he hurt Anna. Not with the same disgusting method, of course, but any type of torture that leaves the victim in agony long after the damage has been inflicted.

Elsa and I had tried to treat Mikael with all the love and care we could, and then some. He wasn't always sick, and even when he was, it wasn't always so bad that he required immediate treatment. If Mikael was feeling up to it, Elsa and I would take a break from our royal duties to play with him in a ballroom covered in snow. Olaf, Anna, and Kristoff would join in whenever they could, and so would Pia once she was old enough to. After building snowmen and sliding down icy hills and making snow angels to exhaustion, we rewarded anyone who showed up to play with a performance in the garden. Elsa and I would have a contest, with Mikael at the head of a panel of judges, and take turns impressing him with gorgeous ice sculptures and brilliant fireworks displays. The winner got to share an extra desert after dinner with Mikael, and then, as a day relatively unscathed by sickness wound down, Elsa and I would come to Mikael's bedside and tell him a bedtime story. He would sit through one of my fantasy adventures or one of Elsa's lighthearted fables, but always insisted on an extra story about our own lives. Of course, we censored and reformatted our history extensively, but felt free to talk to him about almost anything he wanted to know. There were times when we didn't answer his questions, not because we didn't want to, but because we didn't know the answer ourselves.

"_Wow! You really made a whole castle out of ice?" _Mikeal once said at the end of an enthralling retelling of Elsa's coronation day.

"_Well, more of a palace, really. But I guess I did." _Elsa patted her son's head._ "Now, are you ready to sleep yet?"_

"_How did you make it?"_

"_The ice palace? To be honest, I didn't really think about it. My powers just made it happen."_

"_But how'd your powers make it?"_

Elsa smiled and kissed Mikael's forehead. _"I don't know. But maybe it's better that way; some things are best left unexplained."_

"_But I wanna know! Why can you make ice stuff, and why can daddy make fire stuff?"_

Elsa said nothing, so I filled in the space. _"We don't know, Mikael. We really don't; we'd tell you if we did." _Then, upon seeing him frown, _"Don't worry, Michael. You know what? I'm going to find out why I can make fire, and why your mom can make ice, and I'll tell you when I do. Okay?"_

"_Do you promise?"_

"_I promise."_

I peeled my sweaty forehead from the lacquered wood of the coffin, and rubbed the tears that were blurring my eyes with my sleeve. I needed to talk to Mikael, but there was no need to say anything out loud. He wasn't a physical being anymore; anything I thought, he would hear. So as I at last parted with my son's casket, I thought one last thought at him.

Don't worry, Mikael. I'll figure this out, and when I do, I'll tell you. I promise.


	23. Part 5, Chapter 23

XXIII.

"You were out there a very long time." Elsa picked at her breakfast. The cooks had nobly attempted to cheer her up with her favorite blueberry pancakes, but to no avail; she had no appetite, and neither did I. They were going to give her something with chocolate, but I told them to just give me a few squares of the stuff, and that I'd give it to her when the time felt right.

"Well, I was talking with him, okay?" I stared at my plate, and sausage and eggs stared back. Anna and Kristoff were silently munching on whatever their breakfast was.

"You weren't talking with him. Mikael is dead." Elsa was being a little too blunt and a little too cold for comfort. I was glad I had told the cooks to wait; now was definitely not the right time for chocolate. "He couldn't talk back. You were talking _to_ him."

"His spirit could talk back." I speared a sausage with my fork and took it off with my knife. My plate returned to its original form, save four little perforations in the meat.

"Oh, that's great." Elsa was slowly stabbing her pancakes when I looked up at her. She looked back at me with a scowl. Her scowl was more delirious, confused, and sad than it was angry. "His spirit could talk back. You hear that Anna? His spirit could talk back, isn't that great?"

"Elsa…"Anna responded meekly to avoid setting her sister off. It didn't work.

"You want to go tell bedtime stories to his spirit, Erik? Is that what you want?" Elsa's voice was getting forceful, and her face was twisting up. I looked back at my plate.

"Elsa…" Anna repeated, still timidly, but slightly louder than before.

"You know what, Erik? While we're at it, let's go talk to my parents! We'll just talk with their spirits, and catch up on ten years. You want to do that?" Elsa was being uncharacteristically harsh; she almost spat the words at me.

"Elsa…stop…"

"Or how about your uncle, Erik? Let's talk with his spirit, we'll discuss how he helped you, and how I murdered him!" Elsa stood up with her hands on the table, hissing with a fury I had only seen once before in the ten years I had known her. "Let's do that, won't it be fun?"

"Enough, Elsa…"

"Or we could go all the way, solve a few mysteries while we're at it. Let's go to Fordane, and talk with your brother's spirit! Find out why he raped Anna-"

"I said enough!" Anna shot up from her seat and sent her chair flying backwards. Her trembling hands tried to shove her fork into her breakfast, but missed and hit the table instead. The fork fell with a clank, and the shuddering Anna marched over until her face was parallel to her sister's, minus the slight height difference. "I know you can control your powers now, but that doesn't give you the right to let go of everything. Even a child knows when to censor herself, but apparently you don't, so I'll spell it out for you. Don't cross that line, Elsa. Conceal it, at least when I'm around. You're my sister, and you care about me, so don't you dare cross that line." Anna stormed out of the room, leaving a stunned but still on-edge Elsa to slump back into her seat, with one arm carelessly falling into her mutilated pancakes.

Kristoff slowly got up, and walked around the edge of the table to Elsa. He laid his hand on her shoulder. "I know losing a child must make you feel terrible, Elsa, but pull yourself together. You don't want to be mad at the sister you didn't have for thirteen years."

"Kill Pia, then talk to me about losing a child." Elsa muttered in a single vile breath. Kristoff got the message, and left the room without another word, leaving Elsa and me alone. We sat silently for ages, neither of us eating our food, especially since Elsa's meal was preoccupied with her unmoving elbow.

God, Elsa had snapped. I pierced one of the runny yolks of my eggs, and the fluid oozed down to meet the sausage. She never snaps. Not even when her sister was kidnapped did she snap; in fact, she did the opposite, and became incredibly focused. But then, there was something for her to be focused about; concentrating on a dead person was pointless. It was pointless, and she could do absolutely nothing, and she hated that. I noticed my food getting white, and looked around to see the room covered with ice and a dusting of snow. It was something that hadn't happened in seven years, of course excepting playtimes with Mikael in the ballroom. I speared the sausage with my fork, and the meat hissed at me. I jumped a little, and then felt my heart drop as I realized what was happening.

My fork was red hot, as was my knife. I looked behind me; there was no ice, nor snow. My view of everything wobbled with heat waves. In the middle of the room, where Elsa's ice met my warm front, the snow melted and turned slowly but surely into steam.

The door suddenly cracked open, and I spun my head, preparing to explain everything to Anna or Kristoff. Only it wasn't a person who stepped in.

"Is it just me, or is it a little warm in here?" Olaf pattered towards the table, and began deforming into a shapeless blob. I did my best to bring my unusually expressive powers back under control, and thankfully, Elsa's snow began falling once again on my half of the room. "Why the long face, Elsa?"

Elsa had had a long enough break from her fit of hysteria not to tell the snowman it was a stupid question, but her look did basically the same thing.

"Right, stupid question." Olaf reiterated her thoughts as he reshaped himself in the now cold room. He looked up at his creator's face. "I think someone needs a warm hug."

"Not now, Olaf."

"Especially now. That's what friends are for." After seven years, Olaf still seemed like a frolicking, innocent snowman from the outside, but he really had gotten to know the people he lived with. "Or at least let me get you a napkin, your elbow's all syrupy."

For the first time, Elsa noticed the food her elbow was resting in. She lifted it up, pulling a drippy trail of syrup and pancake with her. "Could you, please?" She wasn't angry anymore, but not yet feeling anything else.

Before Olaf could move a muscle – or, I suppose, whatever equivalent a snowman has for moving – I had a handful of napkins dabbing at Elsa's elbow. She didn't pull back or anything, but as far as I could tell, it was only to keep the dribbling syrup from falling anywhere but her plate. "He was my child too, Elsa."

She didn't say anything until I had wiped her elbow clean. "I need to go wash my arm, and change my clothes." Then she walked straight past me, and straight past Olaf, and left the dining hall without another word.

"What was that all about?" I thought out loud.

"I don't know, man," Olaf said. "Elsa always takes my hug when she needs it, and I know she needs one now. Gosh, now I have this random warm hug I can't give to anybody." He turned his carrot nose to me. "You want it?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want it?" Olaf repeated. "Don't act like you're too manly for a warm hug."

I cracked the closest thing to a smile I could manage. "But you'll melt. Fire, remember?"

"Some people are worth melting for." He smiled, and I smiled, and I took his hug for as long as I could without deforming him.

It was a good thing I didn't melt him, too, because someone else nearly tripped over her pigtails to get the same service from Olaf as I let go. Almost the instant Olaf had stopped hugging me, he was hugging Pia.


	24. Part 5, Chapter 24

XXIV.

"Hey, hey, hey, Pia." Olaf patted the back of the sobbing little four year old wrapped around his snowy neck. "What's the matter?"

"Mommy and daddy are scaring me!" Pia cried into Olaf's nonexistent shoulder. The snow from his personal flurry began dusting Pia' strawberry blonde hair.

"Now, that's just silly," Olaf tried to reassure her. "Why would they do something like that?"

"I don't know! But mommy was yelling at daddy, and daddy was yelling at mommy, and it was scary! And daddy had an axe…"

Normally, Olaf was pretty good about only saying things to make the person he was hugging feel better. In his early days, it was out of ignorance, and later on he did it out of sympathy for the other person. But Olaf's eyes grew wide with panic, and he spoke to me instead of Pia. "An axe?"

I wasted no time in getting out of the dining hall and racing for Anna and Kristoff's room. They weren't in there, and neither was any axe. My head spun; what would Kristoff be doing with an axe that would make his wife yell at him? I grabbed a passing guard and nearly shook him to pieces.

"Where's Anna? Where's Kristoff? Where's Elsa? Tell me, now!"

He screamed in pain, and I let go to find the metal where my hands had been was glowing red. "I don't know! I don't know!" he shouted frantically. "Don't hurt me!"

I took a deep breath, and for the first time in ten years, a black cloud of smoke came out when I exhaled. "Where do you think they are?"

"I don't know, your Majesty." He was still shaken from having his arm almost burned off. "I think Princess Anna and her husband left their room not too long ago, but I don't know which way they went."

I sighed, and more smoke billowed in front of me. "Thanks anyways…"

"Andreas, your Majesty."

"Thanks anyways, Andreas. You may return to your post." There was one place, the place I probably should have checked first. Every time Elsa was stressed, without fail…

I expected nothing much when I turned the corner into the hallway Elsa's room was in. Then, as I got closer, "Well, what was _I _supposed to do about it?" It was Anna.

I found out why Kristoff had the axe; though Elsa's doors were closed, there was a gaping hole where the door handles should have been. Splinters of wood and shards of ice decorated the floor, as did the axe. I yanked the doors open without announcement.

"Well, it would have probably helped if you…" Elsa trailed off when the door opened. She was sitting on her bed, facing Anna, who was standing in front of her. Kristoff wasn't there. "Erik?"

"I'm pretty sure that's me." It wasn't the right time to joke around, but I did anyways for no apparent reason. "At least, that was my name yesterday. I pray to God it hasn't changed."

"Why would it?" Elsa played along dryly to make me get to the point.

"What's up with the door? And the axe?" I pointed to the hole in the center of her door. Elsa didn't say anything, but Anna did.

"Kristoff's up with the door, and the axe," she answered directly. "After he found me in my bedroom, he told me that I needed to go and talk to Elsa. I said kind of horribly that she was probably locked up in her room with her door frozen over, like she was for thirteen years. He grabbed his axe, and insisted that I talk to her, but the way he did it... I thought he was going to attack some _person_, and he thought I didn't want to talk to her, and we yelled at each other the whole way here. Of course, Elsa was in her room, and her door was locked. Kristoff told her to open it, and she said no, so he just broke in."

"Nearly gave me a heart attack." Elsa interrupted.

Anna continued as if she didn't hear her sister. "He just about shoved me inside of the room, and told me to talk to her, and then he left." She paused. "He has the weirdest way of doing it, but somehow, it made me feel a little better. A lot better, actually. Can't say the same for Elsa, though."

I looked at Elsa. She wasn't angry or hysterical in the least bit anymore, but a calmer and more contained sad that I was more accustomed to seeing when she had something heavy on her mind. After getting syrup all over her usual ice dress, she had changed into a casual dark blue dress I had only seen her wear once before, ten years ago.

"Well, it probably would have helped if you had taken the axe… oh, never mind." Elsa decided not to pick up what she had been saying when I came in. Her head was turned down, so I couldn't tell if she was crying or not.

"Well, Elsa, you know that you said some hurtful things to me and Erik, right?" Anna sounded like she was lecturing Pia. "You should probably apologize."

"Anna, please, I'm not a child." Elsa looked up, and her icy blue eyes were indeed brimming with tears. "But I will anyways. Sorry, Erik. Sorry, Anna. It's just that…"

I slowly made my way to her bed and sat down next to her. I draped my right arm over her shoulder. "It's okay, Elsa. He was my son too. We were just really sad, really stressed, but its okay. He's in a better place now."

Elsa brought a hand to her eyes. "I couldn't even be a good sister for thirteen years, what made me think I could be a good mother?"

"Stop that." I gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "You were a terrific mother. If I had been blessed enough to have a mother growing up, I would have wanted her to be just like you." I thought I was just saying words to make her feel better, but I wasn't lying.

"If I'm such a good mother, then why is our only child dead?"

Anna stepped in when I couldn't respond. "Elsa, that was out of your control. You did the best you could, but he was really sick, Elsa. It's not your fault."

"My powers killed him." Elsa was choking up, and I'm sure I would have too if I tried to talk. "Even with such a great blessing, a whole person, even… my blessing is just a curse."

Anna rushed to Elsa's other side and replaced my arm with hers. "No, it's not, Elsa. Your ice wasn't hurting him, it was just fighting…"

"With Erik's fire." Elsa finished Anna's not very well planned thought and threw a betrayed look at me. "With your fire," she repeated.

It had been obvious that was happening inside of Mikael for the last seven years, but we never dared to say it out loud. There was a string of horrible conclusions we hadn't said for seven years, and they chose an awful time to reveal themselves. "Mutual annihilation…" I muttered involuntarily.

"If we're together, we destroy ourselves," Elsa elaborated. "Like Joakim said…"

"Like Joakim was counting on." I don't know how we managed to keep talking but we did.

"Mikael was doomed from the start." Elsa was getting melancholy.

"So much for having a child." God, it was absurd how depressing we were being.

"Or a family."

"I'm still your family." Anna said the first encouraging things in what was really minutes but felt like hours. She looked past Elsa on accident and found my face. "Sorry, Erik."

"What, do in-laws not count now?" I tried to make up for the fact that, by blood, I was literally related to no one alive. Well, there was one…

"Only if you want to start counting the Queen of Fordane as your family." Anna really knew how to cheer people up if she was in the mood for it. Elsa and I were by no means happy, but had become a lot less high-strung.

The Queen of Fordane. Joakim's wife. And if her child was legitimate… I had a nephew. A living, breathing, healthy, related by blood nephew. "Elsa, I need to tell you something." I said suddenly. "What I was talking to Mikael about yesterday."

"Sorry for yelling at you for that, by the way," she started apologetically, but then realized that I was about to divulge the contents of the conversation itself. "What?"

"Remember, how he'd always ask where our powers came from."

If I looked hard enough, Elsa was smiling wistfully. "I remember. He'd ask, and I'd say I don't know, and tell him to sleep."

I sighed, and to my relief only a tiny bit of smoke came out. "Well, there was this one night, I promised him that I would find out. And I thought about it a lot. Too much of our lives make no sense, Elsa. Don't you want to know why everything happened the way they happened?"

Elsa's wistful smile faded. "The past is in the past, Erik. Some things are best left unexplained."

I didn't account for the possibility that Elsa might be unsupportive of what I was about to tell her. "Well, I want to know the answers. For Mikael. And I'm going to Fordane to do it."

Elsa clutched her bed sheets with one hand and Anna's hand with the other. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. I'll only be gone a month or so, nothing major. I just-"

"As Queen of Arendelle, I hereby forbid you from leaving." Elsa was getting cold and a little desperate.

"Elsa, don't be ridiculous. Will you please let me go? I just need to talk to a few people there, see what was up with Joakim, and hopefully much more if I can."

"You asked for my permission, but my answer is no." Elsa was being stubborn. I had no choice but to dig deep into her and my mind alike, and pull out the actual reason for… everything. It was going to hurt me as much as it would hurt her, but maybe Elsa was wrong about hiding the truth. Some things needed to be said.

"Elsa, I have to go. I have no choice. Forgive me for saying this, but this morning at breakfast, you were acting insane. Like you did in front of Joakim…" She didn't look very forgiving, so I changed my pace. "But do you know why? Because you couldn't do anything about Mikael's death. When Anna was kidnapped, all those years ago, there was a letter pointing you to exactly where you needed to go. You had purpose; you could do something, and that's why you were so focused then. But now, with Mikael, you couldn't do anything. You couldn't do anything to save him, to fix the damage your powers had helped cause, and it drove you mad." I didn't look at her face, and even if I did, I don't think my eyes would have seen anything. I was too focused on my monologue. "I realize now that I know how you feel, and because I've felt it before. The first time I ever killed someone…" I remembered my mother. "The first time I ever killed someone and was old enough to know what I had done, I felt like that. There was this guard, and he was burnt all over, and disfigured… and I couldn't do a thing about it. I snapped, and if it hadn't been for my uncle, I probably would have stood there for days like a madman. But that's not how I feel right now, not because I don't care, but because I still feel like there's something I can do. I have a mission, to answer Mikael's question, the big why of our whole lives. It's what has kept me sane. Let me cling onto that kernel of hope, Elsa. Arendelle can't afford for both their leaders to lose their sanity."

Elsa was quiet for less time than I thought she would be, after such a blunt listing of our deepest emotions. "If you're gone, then Arendelle will just be left with one insane leader, won't it?"

"Elsa, please, it's only for a month-"

"Fine, go." She didn't sound too enthusiastic that I had convinced her to say it.

Anna suddenly spoke up with an unnaturally accusatory voice. "So you're just going to leave your wife to rot in lunacy, and dwell on how the powers she feared for her entire adolescence contributed to the death of her child? How could you?"

"I'm just going for a month or so, Anna, Elsa will be fine. And how could I, you ask? In a boat, if all goes well." I was trying to end with a little joke, to get Anna back to her usual self, but I think she took me literally, because the next moment she got up and gave me a tight slap on the side of the head.

"I'm going to go find Kristoff." She stormed out of Elsa's room in much the same way she had left the dining hall earlier. Only this time, though Elsa and I were alone, there was no ice or fire in the whole room.


	25. Part 5, Chapter 25

XXV.

"Don't worry, she fizzles out pretty quickly." Elsa said what I already knew about Anna; after all, both of us had only really spent time with her for the last seven years.

"Feeling better?" Now that Anna was gone, I put my hand back where it had been on Elsa's shoulder.

"Not really," Elsa conceded. "I don't know how I feel. It's just, the last day or two… I'm just… conflicted."

"You know what Anna said isn't true, right? I want to be with you. But I have to go."

Elsa sighed. "She gets so touchy whenever someone mentions Joakim, or when I'm involved in a bad way. And I'm like that too?"

I didn't exactly know what made her jump ideas all of the sudden, but felt obliged to answer her truthfully. "Kind of, yes."

Elsa buried her face in her palms, more out of exasperated frustration than anything else. "You would think that after thirteen years of concealing myself and seven of being queen, I'd be able to keep myself calm." She stared at me with her teary crystal blue eyes. "I'm a lunatic, aren't I?"

"Well, compared to your sister, I wouldn't go that far." After all my failed attempts at comedic relief that day, I probably should have known better than to say that, but luckily, that joke didn't have as bad of a result.

"She's always been a little crazy, though." Elsa played along just to see what would happen. "I mean, she married some guy she picked up on a mountain, for crying out loud."

I produced a little hiccup of a laugh, and Elsa did the same in response. "You married a guy who was jailed for three years for burning your face." It was a serious topic and the order of events was all wrong, but I felt like there was enough time between then and now for me to poke fun at it.

"So I am a lunatic, then?" Elsa didn't say it with nearly as much gravity as before, and she even had the hints of a smile on her face.

"I guess so." I noticed that my hand was no longer on her shoulder, so I brought it down to my pocket instead. I pulled out two squishy packets of foil. "Sorry if it's a little melted," I said with no introduction, "Do you still want some?" I peeled back one of the wrappings to reveal a previously solid bar of chocolate.

"Is that…" Elsa took a deep whiff, and came out of it unambiguously smiling. "Even a lunatic wouldn't refuse chocolate."

So we sat and ate, and talked about anything that happened at least seven years ago like it was nothing.

• • •

I didn't want to take a royal ship to Fordane, so I made to with a medium-sized merchant's sailboat. It wasn't like I was trying to go there incognito; nearly every soul in Arendelle knew of my departure when I finally was ready to leave two weeks after Mikael's passing. But I wanted to go there as a man returning to his homeland, not the King of Arendelle coming for a diplomatic visit. It helped that I was making the trip in a Fordane ship, namely, the ship of Captain Klaus. I had sent a message to him soon right after Elsa and I had finished our chocolates asking if he would be willing to ship me over, and he had replied promptly with a resounding yes.

A crowd of Arendelle citizens had pooled around Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff as they were seeing me off to Fordane. My luggage had already been loaded onto Klaus's ship, and giving goodbyes were all that was left to do. The sun was already fairly low in the sky, but not enough to turn it red.

"You sure you'll be safe?" Elsa laid her hand softly on my arm.

"I am. I'll be back in a month, I promise." I moved to say goodbye to Anna and Kristoff, but then an aging woman with more freckles than she had face burst out of the multitude and fell into a deep bow before us. It was incredibly startling; Anna nearly jumped off the dock and into the water.

"Your Majesty the King," she began rambling before anyone, the crowd and royal family included, could make anything of her presence. "I'm so sorry to interrupt you, but I need to ask if you would be so kind as to hear me out on a little favor."

I stared at the woman, and finally recognized who it was. "Lilly?" She subtly bobbed her head in affirmation, and I continued with some gusto, "Lilly! It's been such a long time! Of course, of course, what favor?"

Lilly stood upright, and I could see her face bent with worry lines, as if she hadn't seen a happy day in years. "My two daughters, Paula and Ester, left for Fordane to find husbands six years ago. They left, and never wrote home… not a single letter from either one." Lilly's eyes grew watery. "Could you please find out what happened to them, and if they're all right? Please?"

I would have grabbed her shoulders for reassurance, but I reminded myself that I was in public, so I settled for a tone of voice that felt the same. "Not a problem, Lilly. I owe you that."

Lilly broke into a bow again. "Thank you, your Majesty." I was going to tell her to just call me Erik, but once again, I was in the public eye, so I just let her fade into the crowd. Everyone was unnervingly quiet for a while, until Anna broke the silence.

"Well, goodbye, Erik. I'll miss you," she said casually.

"Same here," Kristoff tacked on.

"And here." Elsa concluded with a bit more sentiment than Anna or Kristoff.

"Bye, then," I said. "See you in a month." I climbed onto Klaus's ship. The ship was untied from the dock, and I was off to see my homeland for the first time in seven years, and for the first time not in panic in ten.

At least, I thought I wouldn't be in panic. But if I had known what would be in store for me, I probably would have never gone.


	26. Part 6, Chapter 26

**Part Six – Return to Fordane**

XXVI.

The first thing Klaus did on that ship was invite me to, in his words, a 'drink, a meal, and a hearty talk.' He was obviously getting his words mixed up, but he said them in such a jolly way that I didn't feel like correcting him. He brought me to a dining room that looked sort of like a pub, and had a crewmember throw a couple mugs of beer and plates of pork in front of us.

"You know, your Majesty," he began politely, "we usually don't have this much meat at supper, but I figured that we should have a meal fit for a King."

I was glad there wasn't a crowd around us. "You can just call me Erik, if you want."

"Really? You're sure it wouldn't be degrading or anything?"

"Of course not. And I really appreciate you lending your ship to bring me to Fordane."

Klaus gave a hearty laugh that seemed perfect for his grey bearded, pot bellied, hard-eyed sailor appearance. "Anything for the King, and even more for an old friend." He took a bite of his pork.

"So, how's everything been for you and your crew?" I didn't ask because I really wanted to know, just to be polite, but I didn't mind having to listen to him either.

"It's been great, really great, actually. Ever since King Joakim passed, bless his soul, Queen Isabella's really boosted the economy and all. With so much foreign trade, there's hardly a day that we don't have some cargo to deliver. We need a whole room just to keep our silver in, it's so good."

Two things struck me about what Klaus said, things that I really didn't expect to learn from him, of all people. First of all, he called Joakim's wife Queen Isabella. To my horror, or at least severe discomfort, I realized that until then, I hadn't known her name. I had known her personally for six years, and known of her for another ten after that, but I never once had actually thought about her name. Isabella. I rolled it around in my mind, and was even more amazed that I couldn't match the name to her face, because I didn't remember her face. It was as if she was completely featureless…

The second thing that I processed, though Klaus had said it first, was his mention of Joakim. "Bless his soul?" were the first words Klaus heard me say after what I'm sure was an uncomfortable pause.

He put down the slab of meat he was working on in surprise. "Of course, bless his soul. You're his brother, I would think you would know what happened to him. Don't you?"

Of course, I knew exactly how Joakim died, but I wanted to know what Klaus thought had happened. "No, I don't."

Klaus stared at me with a raised eyebrow. "Really, you don't? Wow… well, it really is quite tragic. Something drove him right out of his mind, seven years ago, right around the time I first met you. He… killed himself, in the highest cell of the highest prison tower in Fordane. They say the royal doctor kept talking about his neck… must've been pretty ugly, the way he strangled himself."

Of course. What other logical conclusion would there be if you found your king dead in a prison tower with marks on his neck? I couldn't think of what to say, so I stuffed my face with food to have an excuse for my silence.

"I feel bad for you, King Erik, I really do," Klaus continued, "But to be honest, I really don't have much experience with this whole death thing. My parents were dead before I was old enough to understand what had happened, and I never had a wife or kids or anything that could've died all these years I've been alive. Heck, I've never even seen one of my crewmen pass away. Your Kristoff fellow might just be the closest thing to a dead man I've ever actually seen."

"This is good pork," I said out of place. I didn't want to keep talking about dead people, especially with Mikael in such recent memory, so I changed the subject. And the pork really was good, even if it was no royal feast.

"It's the cook's own recipe," Klaus said proudly, "He makes it whenever guests come over, just so that I can tell them it's his recipe. Works every time too." He took a large gulp of his beer. "Are you feeling good for a game of darts?"

"Darts?" I sounded like I hadn't heard the word before.

"Yeah, darts. A lot of people don't care for a game like darts, but I think it's great. Simple rules, but hard to master, if you stand far back enough."

I hadn't played a game of darts since… actually, I had never played darts before, not even as child. We finished our food and beer, and played darts in the moonlight. Klaus was better than me by a long shot until, eventually, he was too drunk to aim well. He kept drinking beer throughout the night, as did most of his crew, but I didn't have any more past that first mug I drank with dinner. I never thought I would like the feeling of being drunk. It always looked like people who were drunk had no control over what they were doing.

But as sloppy as Klaus got, he thankfully never threw up, and darts was a lot of fun, and senseless fun at that. There was no plotline or anything to the game; it was just that: a game. It was kind of nice to do something not emotionally connected to anything else, pleasant or unpleasant.

• • •

The next morning, Klaus was remarkably not hung over. I asked him how he pulled it off, and he gave me a fairly direct answer.

"Well, I am the captain of a ship, aren't I? I can't just go around whining that my head hurts just 'cause I had a few drinks the night before." He gave a little wink. "Also, a few years of practice don't hurt either."

"But you're still hurting, aren't you?" It didn't look like Klaus was in pain, but with the amount of beer he had had the night before, I was seriously worried for his health. How he hadn't vomited was beyond me.

"I will be if you keep reminding me." He brushed off my question, and continued as if I had never asked it. "Now, I don't want our guest of honor to be bored or anything, but I have to admit that I don't have anything for you to do. Any ideas?"

"Do you have any interesting rooms on this ship?" I asked jokingly, but Klaus took my suggestion seriously. I didn't sound very serious when I said it, though; he was misunderstanding me intentionally for some reason.

"Not really. We don't have any historical relics or anything, and even my own crew isn't allowed in the room we keep our money in." He paused for a while, debating whether or not to use the setup he had created. "There is one, though. The room that Kristoff fellow stayed in. No one's been in that room for seven years."

My mind flashed back to the room, with Kristoff in the bed and Anna next to him, hugging Elsa. I noticed that, somewhat surprisingly, the first thing I recalled of that room wasn't the blood decorating Kristoff's hair, or Anna's weak and scarred appearance, or Elsa's being within inches of a mental breakdown, but a hug. "I want to see it," I found myself saying almost fondly.

Klaus showed me to the room, quickly pointed out the directions of the toilet and dining area, and left me to explore the long dead area. I swung open the door, and coughed violently as a blizzard of dust blew out. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and made my way, without thinking, to the bed. I sat on it, in the same spot Kristoff sat in seven years ago. I looked around.

Other than a powdery film of grey dust coating every surface, nothing had changed. There was a blob in the corner - Kristoff's clothes, no doubt - and not much else besides the bed in the room. There was a little square side table to my left, and on that was a grey and yellow quarter-folded sheet of paper. With nothing else to do but reminisce, I picked up the dusty page and started reading.

_For wreaking havoc on my aching heart,_

_ For taking all that's lately made me well,_

_ For making us spend so much time apart,_

_ Allow for me to send that brute to hell._

_ The way he tore you from my desp'rate hand,_

_ The way he made me feel like I had lost,_

_ The way he stole you to a far off land,_

_ Is surely, to avenge you, worth the cost._

_ For I care not if I will bleed to death,_

_ Or if, in saving you, do lose my head,_

_ For I will fight until my final breath,_

_ To see for sure your captor with the dead._

_ But presently such thoughts have purpose not,_

_ Since you, my dearest Anna, have been caught._

_-Kristoff B., Of My Darkest Hour (a sonnet)_

I peeled my eyes from the page when there was no more text left to read, but then shot back to the signature. Kristoff? There was no way… I tried to analyze the handwriting, but it was in vain, as I had never seen Kristoff write much of anything before. There was no other option; Kristoff wrote this. Kristoff, the rugged mountain man, the muscly spouse of a princess, wrote a sonnet.

Of course, it was obvious that Kristoff would have been unhappy about his wife' kidnapping. It even made plenty of sense that Kristoff had so much rage at Joakim. But since when did he vent all that through poetry? And successful poetry at that; the words had knocked me back seven years to, in his own words, his darkest hour.

I carefully folded the paper and slipped it into my pocket. It would be the fourth in my collection of writings I wished I could forget: Joakim's note to me when I first left for Arendelle, the copy of the note my uncle Mikael had given my father, Joakim's threat to Elsa about her sister… and now Kristoff's point of view on the day Elsa almost lost Anna for the third time in her life.

Those four papers all had something remarkable in common; I had kept them. _The past is in the past_, Elsa had told me. If the past was in the past, then why did I keep thinking about it?


	27. Part 6, Chapter 27

XXVII.

Around four o'clock, the ship finally reached the shores of Fordane. Thankfully, it didn't dock in the shipyard immediately next to that prison tower, but somewhere closer to the front gates of the castle. With the poem still fresh on my mind, I rather numbly witnessed my things being carried off the ship, but I retained the capacity to ask Klaus one last question before leaving myself.

"Do you know of two young women, Klaus, named Paula and Ester? From Arendelle?"

Klaus shook his head. "Can't say I do. Why?"

"No reason." I didn't want to bring up my secondary mission any more than I had to, and I didn't mention the poem, either. "Well, it's really been a good time Klaus. See you in a month for the trip back." I held out my hand to give his the handshake I had owed him for seven years.

He took it with a firm grip and a jolly laugh. "All right, King Erik. See you in a month. Have fun if you're supposed to, and be safe even if you're not."

The guards who escorted me into the castle were eerily familiar and uncomfortably foreign at the same time. They were royal guards, just like the ones in Arendelle. But these weren't Arendelle guards; they were Fordane guards. What did I have to fear? This was my motherland, after all. If anything, I have _more_ right to control these guards than… Queen Isabella. The name hadn't quite sunken in yet, and for the life of me I still couldn't picture her face. After a short walk to the castle gates, though, I didn't have to.

Queen Isabella – as off as the name sounded, mentally referring to her as 'Joakim's wife' was beginning to seem rather insulting – was standing right by the open front gates. She waved her hand politely at the crowd of citizens that was beginning to form. She smiled at me warmly, and greeted me with kind eyes I couldn't exactly determine the color of. With great approval from the public, we shook hands.

"King Erik of Arendelle," she began formally, "It's sure been a long time, hasn't it?"

I replied in a stiffer voice than I had intended on using. "It certainly has, Queen… Isabella, I hear?"

She smiled more at the audience past the guards than she did at me. "Well, yes, I should hope that after knowing me for sixteen years that you can remember my name. Come inside, we'll catch up on life."

With enough of a signal that the show was over, the crowd dissipated, and Isabella led me to a room interestingly close to the front of the castle; I didn't even have a chance to pass by the locations of my childhood. The place had a high ceiling, and was a well-lit room I can only describe as a cross between a meeting room and a lounge. I didn't recall the room ever being there in the past. I supposed that Isabella had done some renovating in her seven years as Queen.

"So," she began after I had found a seat, "how've you been doing lately, with your family or being the King, or anything else you want to talk about?"

"Well, my only son died recently." It was a stupid thing to start off with, but it was the first thing that came to my mind.

"You certainly ripped that bandage off quickly." She leaned forward a little in her seat and wrinkled her eyebrows. "Is Elsa dealing with it fine? And yourself, of course."

I responded with a casual, lazy lie. "Yes, we are." There was a gentle tone to her voice, a genuinely concerned tone that made me talk to her in the same way I would to a close friend. But there was no way I was going to spoil this conversation so early on, with the heap of sentiment surrounding Elsa's mental breakdown, for lack of a better term. I had to remind myself that I was on a mission to learn about Joakim, directly from the person who knew him best. "How's your family been?"

"Thank the heavens, I'm not in the same situation as you. My son is seven years old now, and I couldn't imagine him…" her eyes began tearing up, and started rubbing them with one hand. "Sorry. It's just, I can't imagine what you and Elsa had to go through."

In a way, I felt guilty for making her cry. "Please, don't cry over it. He was very sick, and he's in a better place now. I want to talk about your son, and your family."

She gave a short, sympathetic sniffle. "Okay, okay. I was saying, I have a seven-year-old son, Daniel. He's crown prince, so of course he's off with tutors for most of the day, but he's a lot of fun when you get a chance to spend time with him."

"And Joakim…" I dropped the accusation that my brother was not the kid's father as covertly as I could, but in retrospect, I'm glad she didn't pick up on it.

"It is sad that he'll never get to meet his father." She slapped her chair jokingly with a soft hand. "Really, Erik, are you _trying_ to make me feel depressed? I'm warning you, I've made up my mind, and it's not going to work." She radiated a warm smile that made me want to drop anything and everything having to do with death or Joakim or both.

"I have a confession to make, Isabella," I found myself saying for a lack of any better ideas.

"What is it?" She shifted from a supportive smile to kind eyes, and then back to a supportive smile. "I'll keep it a secret, don't worry."

"I really didn't know your name was Isabella until today."

Isabella's smile vanished into thin air. "I was afraid you would say that."

"You were? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I just-"

Isabella stood up, and for the first time ever looked disturbingly intimidating. "Oh, you should be sorry, very sorry. Because I _am _offended, very offended. And now I have to explain to you why I'm offended, because otherwise you'll be offended, and gripe about it to no end, won't you?" Her voice reminded me of the tone Elsa had used weeks ago at breakfast.

I was still accommodating Isabella's own sudden tone shift, but had to respond; there was no Anna to hold off the aggressor this time. "You don't have to tell-"

Isabella slammed her fist onto a table and made my heart jump into my throat. "Oh, yes I do. I have to tell, and you have to listen. Okay?"

"Okay," I said, more stunned than scared.

She paused curiously and pursed her lips, and pointed suddenly at my left arm. "I just noticed, you don't have a left hand, do you? Care to tell the tale?"

"No." I probably would have told her a few minutes ago, but I wasn't going to say a word to this psycho. I had no idea why she snapped like she did; never in the six years I had lived with her had I seen her act in this way.

"Why not?" She leaned towards me, and told me with her eyes that my answer wouldn't matter.

"It's a long story."

"We've got time." She was really forcing me, in a way that made my head feel like a pressurized tank that I could only vent by answering her question.

"I touched Elsa's face, and because she has ice and I have fire, I got frostbite." It was as minimalist of an explanation as I could get away with to make my head stop hurting.

Isabella stood up and put a hand on her chin. "Hmm, I think I like this Elsa girl. She sounds feisty. I mean, anyone who would frostbite a person's hand off just for getting too close has my respect." She smiled a bloodcurdling smile that reminded of me of Joakim's. "Or kill a man for getting too close to her sister."

I gripped the cloth of the seat I was sitting on in anxiety. My eyes were probably as wide as dinner plates, and if I had thought about it hard enough, I could have convinced myself that I was feeling sick. "You knew about that?"

Isabella had begun walking around in a circle around my chair, and she was directly behind me when she answered. "Oh, Erik, I've known for quite some time now. Eight years, actually."

I analyzed her number carefully; it didn't seem right. "It's only been seven."

She leaned in and spoke softly straight into my ear. "I know. Someone had to give him the idea, didn't they?" She cracked a cackle that made my spine tingle.

"What are you getting at?" I was surprised I could still bring myself to speak, but I figured it had something to do with the fact that, until that day, I hadn't even known her name.

"Actually, before I answer that, I think you need to hear my life story. You should feel special, you're the first person to ever hear it." I was going to tell her that I didn't feel special, but decided that a sudden spell of unexpected, diabolical madness wasn't the best time to have a smart mouth. "Have you ever wondered what kingdom _I'm_ from?" I didn't realize that her question wasn't rhetorical. "Are you dumb or something? Have you or haven't you?"

"I haven't."

Isabella rested her hands on the back of a chair in front of me and to my right. "Well, I'm not from any kingdom. None at all. I'm the brainchild and test tube baby of a sorceress, if you want to know the truth."

"What the heck does that even mean?"

She wagged her index finger both jokingly and seriously at me. "Watch your language, there. You are talking to a queen, after all."

"You're talking to a king." So much for not having a smart mouth.

"You're in the land of the queen."

"A land that she married into to become queen."

"You married into a land and became king."

"Yes, and the land I left to do that was this one."

"But that's the thing, you _left _this land; I didn't."

"You had to leave your native kingdom to marry into Fordane."

She killed our back-and-forth with another one of those awful smiles. "Actually, I didn't, thanks for reminding me. Like I said, I'm not royalty by birth; in fact, technically, I'm younger than you are."

She was being either incredibly honest or incredibly deranged. "You're definitely older than me."

"I'm going to pretend you _didn't_ just call me an old woman." She walked around the chair she was behind, sat down in it, and folded her arms. "When the sorceress I refuse to call a mother made me, she made me as a ten year old. Technically, then, I am twenty-four, and biologically I'm thirty-four. But when she made me, all those years ago, she made me a blank slate. I had no features whatsoever, I had no emotions, no ideas, not even a name. She called me a failure and threw me out of the house – or was it a cottage? I can't remember – that same day."

"You can't be serious." She could be, but it was hard to see how. "Stop making things up, it's kind of repulsive."

"Watch your tongue, Erik! You are royalty." She stood up from her chair and wore a cross face. "I should think you could have a little respect for your sister-in-law." God, it was weird to think of her like that. "And I'm dead serious. If I wasn't serious, would I do this?" She pulled out a long needle from a sheath on her side. It was almost like a knitting needle, but far thinner, and it had a small green bulb at the end. Before I could do anything, she had hurled the thing straight into my left arm.

The prick gave me quite the surprise, and when I yanked the needle out of my arm, a searing pain began radiating in an ever-expanding patch centered on the injection site. Within seconds, the sting was unbearable. "What was that?"

"Tranquilizer. It's going to hurt, but I don't care. You'll be knocked out in half an hour or so. As I was saying before you rudely interrupted, I was all alone in a forest, as a ten year old, with literally nothing but the clothes on my back – I'm surprised, now, that the sorceress even gave me something to wear – when I finally had to make my way to the city. I lived on the streets for six years, which was made a little easier by the fact that no one could remember my face when I stole from them. But that was as much a problem for me as it was a benefit; no one could remember my face. If I stayed a blank slate my whole life, the sorceress would win. And I want nothing else but for her to lose. I had to make myself prominent, make myself known. So do you know what I did?" She always wanted an answer to her rhetorical questions, for some reason. "I said, do you know what I did?" Her hands were on the arms of my chair now, and her menacing expression filled my entire field of view.

"No." I scratched pointlessly at my arm.

"I'll give you a hint: I learned one skill, and I used it on you and Joakim after I was married, all the way until right now."

"How to care about others?" That would have been the obvious answer yesterday, or yesteryear, or in my childhood. But at that moment, with her poison creeping at an agonizingly slow pace up my arm, and her rabid eyes staring into mine, it sounded completely absurd.

"Manipulation," she corrected bluntly. "I realized that I could use my blank slate as an asset, because I can embody nearly any persona I feel like embodying, and I could use those personas to manipulate. I manipulated the system so I could marry Joakim. I manipulated you to make you think I give a damn about your life, and I manipulated Joakim so he would be convinced that it was his idea to kill you and Elsa. I knew that, between your fire and Elsa's ice, somebody would wind up killing the man. It's actually kind of sad, when I think about it. He sent me away so that I would be protected from the terrible act he was about to perform. He really was a nice guy, but god, was he clueless. So easy to mold for your own purposes. I made him power hungry, so that he would die for it. For nine years, he didn't suspect a thing. And then he died, and I was Queen."

I tried to put this new version of Isabella into the worldview I had constructed over the course of my life. The tranquilizer had spread its pain into my chest, and my left arm was feeling numb. "And you manipulated my father to hate me, too, I suppose?"

"No, he did that on his own." There was that evil smile again. "But it certainly didn't hurt." She took her hands off of my chair, turned her back to me, and sent her arms heavenwards. "Now, I'm queen, and people know who I am! They even accept the name I gave myself, and they haven't questioned my legitimacy at all. It's all great, except that you and Elsa could overthrow me at any time, if somehow you found out how I got to the position I am in, and decided to use those god-forsaken powers of yours." She turned around with that same smile. "Thought it would be best to take you out myself, then, since my husband couldn't take you two down with him."

For the first time, I thought about blasting that sharp grin off of her face with a ball of fire, but the paralysis from her poison had worked too far for me to move much. "You monster," I spat what I could through my petrifying lips. "You attention hungry, greedy, immoral, inhuman piece of-."

"Oh please, Erik, shut up, you're embarrassing yourself. You've already lost, and I've already won. It's almost like you and the sorceress are one and the same, isn't it? With your freakish magic powers, I suppose you are." Then, as my vision faded and the last of the tranquilizer rippled through my extremities, "One down, one to go."


	28. Part 6, Chapter 28

XXVIII.

For the second time in my life, I woke up in a dungeon after being royalty the day before. However, this place, the Fordane dungeon, was very different from the first cell I was ever put in.

First of all, the room was not cold, damp, and cavernous, but small, and well lit and hot with a very strong central fire. Second of all, I didn't feel weak or faint at all, but fully energized and fully aware of my surroundings. Lastly, I was not alone by a long shot.

Chained to the wall by the ankles as I was were two young women and one very old one. The younger ones were sitting on the ground and whispering something to one another, and the old one was facing the corner of the cell and chanting quietly to herself.

"Hello there." I felt the need to break the ice. I noticed that the two younger women were so thoroughly drenched with sweat that they looked like they had just been swimming in a vat of grease. They stopped talking to each other and turned to face me, but didn't say a word. "We should probably get to know each other, since we're all in the same cell and everything. Strange, why they would put a man in a cell full of women, isn't it?"

"Very strange," the girl with darker hair replied. The other one had brilliant red hair running down to her waist, but the one who spoke wore her black hair short and frizzy above her neck.

"I'm Erik. And you are?"

They didn't answer immediately, but the red-haired women nudged the other one to respond. "I'm Paula," said the woman with dark hair, "and this is my sister, Ester."

My mind jumped violently to conclusions. "Are you, by any chance, from Arendelle?"

They were unsettled by my question, and rightfully so. "Why should we tell you?" Paula said.

"Because I think I know your parents, Lilly and Harald." It would've sounded stupid if those two women weren't actually their children, and creepy if they were. It undoubtedly sounded creepy.

"Mom and dad?" Ester spoke for the first time, and I found out why she hadn't before; her voice was raspy and strained, and she forcefully hurled a bone-rattling cough right after talking.

"Easy, Ester." Paula put her hand on her sister's back. She leveled an untrusting glare at me. "Yes, we're from Arendelle. What are _you _going to do about it?"

"Everything I can," I said without a hint of reluctance. I felt like I owned the place. Being a part of Fordane's royal family, I suppose that I did, in a way. "You see, Paula, I'm not just any old Erik. I'm King Erik, of Arendelle."

"Prove it," she scoffed. "Why would a king be in a dungeon?"

I stood up confidently. "How I got here is a long story, but I can prove myself just fine." I held up my left arm so that they could clearly see the stub it ended in, and then shot a few spurts of fire into the flame that was already burning in the middle of the room. I brought my right hand up to make the fire grow, and back down to make it shrink. It was enough to convince Paula, and Ester had been swayed long ago.

"King Erik…" Paula's jaw dropped, and she suddenly lay prostrate on the ground in an apologetic bow. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea…" Ester made a motion to do the same, but was too ill to do so.

"It's okay. I'm not really much of a king in this place, am I?" I motioned for her to get up. "But I have a plan to escape. I've done it before, and I can bring you two along if you would like. And you too, in the corner there…"

The old woman turned around when I mentioned her, but didn't stop chanting to herself. She took her sweet time finishing her incantation in three awkward minutes or so before finally attempting to identify herself. "I am…" She squinted her eyes and leaned her wrinkly face towards me. "You said you are King Erik, hmm? With fire powers?"

"Yes."

To my great confusion and to her great delight, the woman stepped out of her shackles and walked until she was inches away from me, and then yanked me down by the collar to look her in the eye. "I need to get you out of here."

I was beginning to feel like this lady had lost her mind. "What could you do to help me escape? I can handle escaping prison, and saving three women in the process."

The old woman spun her head at Paula and Ester in contempt. "Why would you take them? They're common criminals, they deserve to be in here."

"And you're not?" Paula shot back.

The old woman stomped with her foot and threw her hands out, and from the sound of it quite possibly her hip also. "Of course I'm not! I am the greatest sorceress in the world! I am-" she coughed violently enough to rival Ester's coughs. "too old for this now. I _was_ a sorceress, but then the no-name – I mean _Queen Isabella_," she sneered, "sucked me dry of magic and tossed me into this hole to rot with criminals."

"We're no more criminals than you are, you old hag!" Paula sprang up and shouted indignantly, "Actually, I kind of pity you. As if you were a sorceress."

"You see _this_ man say he's a fire-breathing king, and you doubt _me_?" The old woman let go of my collar and faced her opponent.

"He could prove it; you can't."

"She has a point," Ester wheezed to support her sister.

The old woman ignored Ester. "Well, prepare your fire. We break out of here in twenty minutes." She crept back over to her corner and stepped into her shackles, faced the wall, and began chanting again. She had to be senile, or stupid, or both.

"I'm not leaving without these two." I asserted myself for the young women, and then turned to face them. "Is there anything you need to get ready before we leave?"

Paula looked at me with big, round, and very shiny eyes. "I can't leave now. I can't leave without Ester, and Ester can't leave now, so I can't leave now." Ester painfully cleared her throat to back up her sister's statement.

"Then I won't leave until Ester's feeling better." I had a month left to spend in Fordane, and part of my mission was bringing these two girls back to Arendelle anyways. I didn't have much to lose except for a comfortable bed, but feeling as confident as I did that I could blast my way out of the prison whenever I wanted to, I wanted to see Ester get well almost as much as Paula did before escaping. However, Paula didn't get a chance to respond.

"What did you say?" The old woman cut her chant short and swiveled around to glare at me. "You can't. We're leaving in a few minutes."

"No, we're not," I asserted myself. "I'm not leaving until Ester is feeling better, and that's my final word. I don't think I should even bring a demented grouch like yourself along."

"Demented?" The old woman was offended.

"You think you're a sorceress, so yeah." Paula explained with delight.

The old woman's face twisted with agitation. "You fools!" she snarled, "You ignorant, arrogant little fools! Do you realize the magnitude of the situation you are in, Erik?"

"I think I do." Why was I so surrounded by people who would randomly blow up at me? First Elsa, then Isabella, and now this hag I had never even met before that day…

"See the bars in the door? Try shooting fire out into the hallway." She sneered at me. "Don't chicken out, no guard will see you. Just a shoot puff, see for yourself."

She was getting really annoying and being an overall pest, but I did what she said anyways only to demonstrate how ridiculous it was. When I shot the fire, though, it merely fizzled out at the bars and left naught but a trail of smoke in its wake.

"What the heck?" I shot a bigger flame ball, and a bigger one, but they all kept vanishing into thin air at the bars.

"I told you, the no-name took my magic, and used it to enchant the door. A very long time ago, actually, about eleven years. That's what'll make it hard to escape, and why this prison cell can hold you in the first place." She ended with a note of triumph as my confidence quickly eroded.

I kept blasting the door, not even aiming for the bars anymore. Nothing.

"You want proof that I'm a sorcerer? I don't have magic, but I have knowledge, and what's the difference, really? Sit your foolish self down next to those criminals, King Erik, and let me do what I intended to do." She was in command now, instead of me. The fire in the center of the room shrunk, but it was still blisteringly hot. Granted, it didn't really bother me much, but I could smell Paula's sweat from the yard away I sat from her, and Ester was miserably sticky.

"What knowledge?" My brief excursion into power in the face of danger was over. I felt twenty-one again, which wasn't a good thing. What the woman said next did no good for my unsettling stomach.

"I know everything about your and Elsa's powers."


	29. Part 6, Chapter 29

XXIX.

"I suppose I should start with Queen Isabella, to not show partisanship for either you or Elsa. I created her as an experiment, you see. Life was very interesting to me at the time, and so of course I tried brewing up a person-"

"Where'd you get your magic from?" Paula cut the old woman off. "Care to explain?"

The sorceress turned an unforgiving face to Paula. "You insolent little criminal-"

"I am not a criminal!" Paula blurted. I silently told her to calm herself down, and she did for my sake. "I'm sorry, please continue," she muttered halfheartedly.

"I'd better hope you watch you mouth. I got it from the same place the trolls get it from, if you must know. Now, where was I?" She started pacing slowly. "Right, I wanted to create life. I had learned a few years earlier a rough, simplified model for how the Greater Force assembles life in Its creations, and tried to apply it for myself. What I got, instead, was a ten-year-old girl with nothing remarkable about her other than the fact that she was a ten-year-old girl. I threw her away and tried again, but each time I tried I was more and more unsuccessful, until I finally gave up." She paused, and I took advantage of the pause.

"How does this explain my fire?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"It will eventually. Can you young folk not sit tight for a few minutes at a time and just listen for once? One of the reasons I had wanted to make life of my own was that I had heard of a certain… experiment the Greater Force was running with the human race. One that involved fire, and ice."

"It was tired of seeing humans moseying about the Earth with no purpose other than to exist until the next day." I found myself recalling words my uncle had spoken over seven years ago with peculiar accuracy. "The Force created two sets of traits, one of fire, emotion, love, and anger, and another of ice, poise, clarity of thought, and fear, and It gave them to people for Its own entertainment."

"Where did you hear that?" She sounded more confused than she did surprised.

"Those were literally my exact words… don't tell me you can read minds too."

"My uncle told me." That was too brief, and she wouldn't accept it. "He told me about the time he met with you about my fire, when I was about a year old."

"So you know what fire stands for in you?"

"Yes."

"And ice in Elsa?"

"Yes."

"And how they are mutually destructive when they come in contact?"

How could I forget the time I burned Elsa? "Yes…"

"_Any _contact? Physical, visual-"

"Visual?" I had to ask, because she had to be wrong. "I've been _seeing_ Elsa for the last seven years, and I saw her briefly three years before that, and we aren't… mutually destroyed."

The sorceress slapped her palm on her forehead and ran it through her craggy hair in realization of something she apparently found obvious. "You came in contact with your opposite ten years ago."

"Three years before seven years ago is ten years ago." Paula spoke up. "Nice to see that an old hag like you can still do math."

"Shut up!" The sorceress hissed, deep in thought. Sadly, I agreed with the sorceress, and politely shushed Paula with a finger on my lips and an eye pointing at the old woman.

"Just how much contact have you come in with Elsa, exactly?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much contact, exactly?"

"Well, there was this one time I burned her face on accident…" I trailed off uncomfortably.

"_Exactly,_" She reiterated.

"That's a little to personal for me to tell a stranger. I'm sorry, but it is."

"Did you and Elsa ever have sex?" she asked dryly and bluntly. What a disgusting way to word the question, too.

"Our seven-year-old son died half a month ago." What a disgusting way to word the answer.

"Did you ever touch her? Skin touching skin, anytime?" She brought her wrinkly face towards mine, which was wrinkled with distaste instead of age.

"Respect my privacy, will you?"

"You just confessed your intercourse habits; you don't have any privacy left." She had a point, a very annoying point.

"One time, I touched her face. She was burned, and my left hand was frostbitten off." I held up my arm stub as evidence. "And of course, when we… you know…"

"Don't insult my intelligence, I know how that works," she grumbled. "And to think you were _complaining _about your privacy."

"What's the point of this, anyways?" Saying that made her voice drift from impactful to her original crotchetiness.

"What's the point? What's the point?" She stepped forwards almost menacingly, and was beginning to sound like Elsa and Isabella had during their emotional fits, half sad and half accusatory. "The point is that it's too late. You and Elsa are going to die!"

"What the hell kind of sense does that make?" I didn't want to connect the dots, so she did it for me.

"Every time you and Elsa come into contact, any contact, your powers mix. Some of your fire goes into her, and some of her ice goes into you. Those bits you transfer are able to fester in the other person, until they overcome and destroy their host."

"It's not a disease." I didn't want to believe it. Ester coughed as if to show what a real disease was, but I knew the cough had nothing to do with me. Paula was silently preparing for the sorceress to go on a powerfully spoken rant, and rightfully so.

"Have you ever wondered why, since you first met Elsa, you've been feeling different? During your wedding, all you had was a glance, and even that was enough to knock the wind out of you."

"How do you know that?" She was beginning to scare me, and I was pretty much convinced that she was an actual sorceress. "How did you-"

"I have sources," she cut me off. "When you first touched her, on the face, as you've confirmed, why do you think she was burned? And you were frostbitten?" She didn't want me to answer. "You two came in physical contact for the first time ever, so your fire rushed into her and her ice rushed into you so fast that it nearly killed you. Ever since then, your traits have been crossing over. How do you think Elsa managed to keep her power under control for twenty-one years, and then suddenly froze her entire kingdom? Troll magic can fight the mixing powers for the three years that it did, but the calm ice should have given her was overcome by fire."

"That's crazy-"

"Be quiet and listen!" She raised her voice, and I shrank in awe as she continued. "How do you think you gained so much control over your powers in prison? The poise and structure of ice was overruling the expressive fire you should have had. And then you had to go and have _more_ contact!" She raised her hands and head heavenwards in exasperation.

"Yeah, about that…" It was a feeble and vain attempt at defending myself.

"Nothing about that! You saw what mixing ice and fire did to your child, and you really think the same doesn't apply to you?"

"We're not dead."

"No, but your characters are dying fast. Putting so much effort into preserving your walking corpse of a son may have staved off the effects for a few years, but the moment he died, you and Elsa both lost your outlets. Haven't you wondered why Elsa was losing so much control? Haven't you wondered why the person who had concealed her powers for thirteen years couldn't stop herself from killing a man or filling rooms with ice and snow or entering fits of madness and hysteria?" I had. "Haven't you wondered why you feel so dull?" I hadn't.

"I don't feel dull." I said dully.

"Emotionally detached, or whatever you want to call it. You are fire, for crying out loud! You should be flaring with passion and anger and emotion, yet when Anna was kidnapped, or when your son's health deteriorated, or when Elsa blew up at you, you kept a straight face. That doesn't strike you as even slightly odd?"

I gathered up as much courage as I could find. "I am not fire. I have weird fire abilities, but I am not fire myself. I am a person." It was a profound idea that I had never congealed into a recognizable thought before in my life. Even a few hours earlier, I would have disagreed with myself about that, but felt suspiciously believable at the time.

"Don't kid yourself," the sorceress spat at me. "The Greater Force literally created you and Elsa for the sole purpose of representing fire and ice. Without fire, you are nothing. You would be as much nothing as that creature that calls herself Queen Isabella."

"That 'creature' managed to jail a sorceress and a king." I pointed out, gaining a little confidence at the return of her nastiness.

"Nothingness can be powerful if you know what to fill the void with." She let me drop down to discomfort again. "And Isabella knows what to fill the void with. Namely, charisma, and a thirst for power. And you and Elsa will not be able to stop her from dominating Fordane, and any other land she wants, just as she dominated the mind of your brother Joakim. Why? Because you will be dead." She nearly screamed the word 'dead'. "You will slowly rot in apathy, and Elsa's emotions will twist her into a raving lunatic, until both of you are..." she drew out the gap for effect. "Mutually destroyed."

Ester couldn't say a word because she was sick; Paula couldn't say a word because she, as much as she wished she did, had nothing to say. I couldn't say a word because I, as much as I had to say, didn't want to. So we all sat as the sorceress stopped pacing, and for the first time was neither mad nor passionate, but genuinely depressed.

"And now that I've told you everything, I am done." She shifted her weight around. "Not with the story, but with my life. I have failed. I tried to make a person, and I made monster. The models the Greater Force had provided me with have gone and assured their own deaths." She spoke of me like I wasn't even there. "There is nothing left. My muses are dying, my creation is pointless, and my ability to do anything about it has been stolen from me, short of telling you everything, which I just did. There is nothing left. But I know what to fill the void with." She walked over to the fire in the center of the cell. "I know what to fill the void with," she repeated. She tossed a twisted and depressed look at me. "My corpse."

"What?" Paula finally had something to say, but soon enough she had no one to say it to. To my horror, and to the horror of Paula and Ester, the sorceress dove into the flames and let them engulf her. The two girls turned away, but I couldn't. The way her skin frayed and blackened… it reminded me of the guard who had followed me and my uncle Mikael out of the prison seven years ago. It wasn't my fault, so I didn't feel as bad about it, but it was still awful to see a person burned alive.

If it was so awful, then why did I keep staring until nothing but ashes remained?


	30. Part 6, Chapter 30

XXX.

Guards came in a week to drag out the corpse. Not the sorceress's; all that remained of her was ash. But a week in, Ester's sickness had caught up with her, and she died. It's a blunt way to say it, but to be honest, I felt just that blunt about it. After seeing my uncle buried alive, my brother strangled by my wife, my son decay slowly from bad health, and two strangers burned alive before my very eyes, Ester's death seemed perfectly reasonable. It was still sad, of course, but she was very sick. Like Mikael, she was in a better place.

Anyways, the guard came to take out the body, and of course Paula was crying when he came in. I don't blame her; I'd be crying too if my sibling died, and I was on good terms with them and everything. Paula was crying, and with good reason, but it sort of annoyed the guard.

"Quit your whining, will ya?" He had a very gruff but surprisingly friendly voice for his scrawny build.

"I'm not whining," Paula defended herself, her own voice muddled with all the tears in her throat.

"You are too whining. Sick people die. It happens. If your sister was sick and didn't die, it would be unfair to all the other sick people who did." He had finished taking off Ester's shackles by the time he finished talking, and left silently with Ester's body.

Paula sucked up her tears when the door slammed shut. She muttered something to me that I didn't exactly hear.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" I asked. Paula really hadn't talked with me that week. She had been too busy caring for her sister.

"I said, he's right though, isn't he?" She had to pump the words out forcefully for me to hear them. "It wouldn't be fair if Ester was all right?"

"Fair doesn't always mean better. I mean, it's technically fair that I…" I couldn't think of what to say. Probably should have thought that one out.

"It's fair that you what?" She turned her sweaty face to me. I couldn't tell how much of the water on her cheeks was sweat and how much was tears.

"Why are _you_ in here anyways?" I tried to change the subject. "I thought your mother said you and Ester were looking for husbands here."

"We were." The diversion worked, perhaps a little too well. "The first guys we met, about six years ago now, I guess, we talked to for a while. They weren't really handsome or smart, but they were good conversationalists. We told them about our lives in Arendelle, and they told us about their jobs in the palace, how they were guards and everything. Ester and I were pretty excited when they offered us a tour, because we'd never been in a palace before." Paula sped up with bitter sentiment. "Then they brought us right in front of the Queen, and said we were spies. The Queen sent us to prison on charges of espionage." Paula was gritting her teeth and breathing harshly. "I don't really blame her, but I want to see those two guys burn in hell."

What a funny way to word it. She didn't just want them to die, or suffer; she wanted to watch them do both. What I said next wasn't what I was actually thinking about, but it was the next best option. "You _should_ blame the Queen."

Paula chuckled sarcastically. "That's the thing, though. She is the one who sentenced me to life in prison, but those two guards are the only reason she did it. I don't know why she trusted them so much, the lying scumbags."

"I think there's something you ought to know about Queen Isabella." I proceeded cautiously as to not say something stupid.

"What, that she's a power hungry monster bent on controlling humanity? I think I picked that much up from the sorceress." Paula didn't call her anything derogatory, I noticed.

"That, and… she's the reason I'm in here."

"Well, duh. Who else would have the authority to jail a King?" So much for not sounding stupid.

"Yeah, but…" I couldn't think of anything again. I knew I had to say something, but I couldn't think of anything. I just felt very dull, too dull to think.

"Is it okay if I just call you Erik?" she said out of politeness. "Even if you're King of Arendelle and all?"

The word 'Arendelle' reminded me of what I wanted to say. "But Queen Isabella put me in here for a reason. She wants to capture me and Elsa both, and take over Arendelle. If you wrongfully being here is any indication, how do you think she will treat your parents?"

"But can I call you Erik?" She didn't want to talk about it.

"As long as I can call you Paula." She may not want to talk about it, but it made me feel less numb, so I did anyways. "She's a mad woman, I swear. For the sake of any person alive, she has to be stopped. Somehow…"

Just then, something rather unexpected happened. The cell door opened. It wasn't feeding time or anything, so Paula and I looked through the barred window to see which guard had shown up. It wasn't a guard.

"Good evening, King Erik." Queen Isabella, looking very formal indeed, strutted into the cell and stood right in front of me and Paula.

"Speak of the devil…" Paula said under her breath, but not quietly enough.

"What did you say, street scum?" Isabella said in a sweet voice that made the back of my throat itchy.

"I'm not street scum." Paula was doing a good job of concealing how offended she always was when someone called her that.

"Oh, right!" Isabella wagged her finger. "Erik was put in the cell with the two spies from his adopted motherland. I thought you died."

"Yes, I obviously am dead. That's why I'm talking to you, because I'm the one who died," Paula secretly was asserting her sister, but Isabella didn't know it.

"What a pity. I'll have to dirty up my lovely oceans with your treacherous, ghastly little corpse. Oh well, it'll be out of sight and out of mind before long." Paula bit her lip as Queen Isabella smiled with the evil Joakim smile, which I had started thinking he had adopted from her instead of the other way around.

"Why are you in here?" I wanted an explanation before I burned her face off, but to be honest, I was feeling a little too sluggish to burn anything at all.

Isabella's smile faltered slightly, as if she was afraid of something, or like she had one shot. "Why don't I show you?" Then she jumped on me, and jammed one palm onto my forehead and the other into my chest.

It knocked the wind out of me, and something else too. I felt very cold all of the sudden. Purple swirls began ejecting themselves from every orifice on Isabella's person, and soon enough her hand began glowing red. It must've been terrifying to Paula, but I couldn't hear if she was screaming or not. All I could hear was the fire rushing past my eardrums and into my forehead, where it left my body and entered Isabella's. It was pretty painful, and very cold. It stopped being cold after about five minutes of continuous psychedelic red swirls creeping up Isabella's arms.

"Great! Now that's done." Isabella's voice was once again full of confident cockiness when she pulled away. Her horrible smile even came back. "Let's test it out, shall we?" I nearly jumped out of my skin, then, when she shot a flame ball at the fire in the middle of the cell.

"You can't do that." It was more of a plea than anything else. I felt so drained, and any efforts to do anything seemed doomed anyways.

"I can now." She stepped forwards for emphasis, but she really didn't need to; she had my full and undivided attention. "Did you even realize what 'blank slate' means? I can absorb _any_ trait I want, and can express it at will. When I control the mind or I control the elements, I do so with the full ability of the person who I sucked the trait from. I did it to the sorceress years ago, and I can do it to you, too." She made her way towards the door, and turned her annoying face over her shoulder on her way out. "Goodbye, Erik. Hope you enjoy feeling hot and sticky in front of a fire. Why else do you think I would put one there?" She gave an evil little wink and slammed the door behind her.

• • •

Paula and I languished in front of the fire for over a month. I felt constantly hot, but it wasn't from within. I was sweaty, but not in cold sweat. It was the strangest feeling, to feel exactly the way Paula did in the heat and stuffiness of the cell. I cared to notice the smoke vent on the ceiling for the first time, because I noticed the smoke for the first time. I couldn't produce as much as a puff of smoke, and I almost hurt myself trying to grab the flame in the middle of the cell. Fire was a lot more uncomfortable than it used to be.

I had no fire, so I had nothing much. That is, I felt like there was nothing I could _do_. Paula just sat like she always had, being sweaty, and for that period that lasted longer than a month, I joined her. I just sat and was sweaty.

Sometimes Paula and I would talk, but there was nothing to talk about that wasn't depressing, and there was no point in depressing ourselves. Sometimes I re-read the four pieces of paper I remembered I still had on me, but they made me depressed, too, so I couldn't ever keep that up for long. My thoughts weren't fuzzy at all; I was very clearly depressed. Mostly because I was to spend the rest of my life in prison, I supposed. Paula wasn't exactly the motivational conversationalist my uncle Mikael had been. Granted, she did have a bad history with conversationalists, but still.

There was another reason I was depressed: Elsa. Going hand in hand with the whole 'life in prison' business, I would never see her again. It wasn't my selfish need to talk to her or anything that worried me. I was worried about her. If I had been feeling so dull right before Isabella stole my fire, then Elsa must've had the opposite effects working on her at the same time. If I was calm, that meant that she was anything but.

I had promised Elsa that I would be safe, and home in a month. God, I hoped that Elsa wasn't losing her mind over that.


	31. Part 7, Chapter 31

**Part Seven – Meanwhile in Arendelle**

XXXI.

Elsa paced up the hall her room was in, and turned and paced back down. It was deep into the night, and not even the guards were awake. But Elsa was, and she was pacing.

A month and a half, she thought to herself. Erik had been gone a month and a half, with no letter home or anything. What could possibly be going wrong? Maybe Erik was having such a good time that he forgot to write home. But it couldn't be; no one had replied to the message she had sent to Fordane two weeks ago. Maybe Erik was having such a good time that he wanted to stay there forever. But it couldn't be; he would've sent a letter of his abdication as King of Arendelle. Maybe Erik was _not_ having such a good time, and was being forced to stay in Fordane against his will. But it couldn't be…

Elsa stopped pacing and knocked her head on the wall nearby. It could be, couldn't it? First Anna, now Erik. Fordane must really have some grudge against me, Elsa thought. But what could she do about it? Send pointless letters to Fordane and not get any replies? Declare war on Fordane and cause the deaths of thousands of people? Go there herself, and use ice as a murder weapon again? Nothing. She could do nothing, and neither could Erik. He couldn't just blast a flaming hole through his own people and run over water away from his land any more than Elsa could do the same to Arendelle. Except, she had.

Elsa noticed a landscape painting hanging on the opposite side of the hall. It was of the Great Freeze; it showed a view of the city and the fjord, all iced over and thick with snow. She sent an icicle through it, and then another upon hearing the terrific sound of ripping canvas, and shot another one. In fact, she summoned a whole barrage of little frozen spears, and retreated into her room afterwards to avoid looking at the artistic carnage she had just created.

Erik was gone. Elsa plopped onto her bed, and did her best to get back under the covers. The room was swirling with snow and howling with wind, and it had taken a massive block of ice just to keep the door shut. It was so bad that Elsa couldn't even see the book on her side desk whenever her eyes jerked open. She tried falling asleep, but kept twisting and turning and writhing with thought. Erik was gone, just like Anna was seven years ago. Not really, though, because Elsa _did_ something to save Anna. Erik was gone, just like Mikael was gone. Not really, though, because Erik could still be, and probably and hopefully still was, alive.

Great. Now her mind was on Mikael again. But thinking about her dead son made her not think about Erik, so she let her brain wander off in that direction. She let it wander, and it stumbled across Olaf, and Elsa had an idea.

It was a crazy, rash, not very well thought out idea, more fit for the mental person she was becoming in secret than the elegant queen she nominally and publically was. No, definitely not fit for a queen, or even a pauper for that matter. But Elsa had the idea, and it was such a strong idea that she didn't care how degrading it would be in retrospect. _You can't do anything about Mikael's death. _Erik was wrong; she could fix it, she could fix Mikael.She didn't grab a coat on the way out of the castle – the cold never bothered her, anyway – and was in the royal cemetery within minutes. She was still in her nightgown, and had, instead of flowers, a shovel made of ice.

• • •

It was a while before Elsa remembered that her ice powers could do some heavy-duty labor for her; by the time she dissolved the ice shovel, there was a three-foot deep hole in the ground and sweat dripping from her face. Soon enough, however, there was a six-foot hole in the ground, the formerly subterranean slab of ice that had created the hole, and a wooden box on ground level. Elsa was already this far into her plan; there was no turning back.

Using a crowbar made of ice, she pried open the lid of the casket. It popped right off, and inside…

Her little son, little Mikael, was rotting. An awful stench radiated from the coffin. Elsa closed her eyes to stop looking at his grey, lifeless face and protruding eyes, or the blood dried around his mouth. How had Olaf been made? Pure happiness. How had her ice palace monster been made? Pure fear. So what, then, would pure love do? Or at least pure desperation, if nothing else.

She placed one hand on his heart, and the other on his head, and mother and son came reconnected for the first time in two months. She concentrated, and breathed out, and then stopped concentrating. She wasn't finished, but what needed to happen needed to happen naturally, without any concentration.

She peeled open an eye. Her son's corpse was turning blue where her hands were. She opened the other eye and pulled her hands away, and both the body and her heart jumped up a little when she did that. She studied the grimy remains of her son for another motion. Did it work? If her heart skipped any more beats than it was skipping, she would have had to take Mikael's place in that coffin. It had to have worked. How else would a person who hadn't lived in two months suddenly move again?

Elsa studied and stared for a long time. She stared for a very long time, in fact, so long that eventually the sky began creeping with shades of light blue as night faded. But her son made no other motions to his mother; that first one was just God's cruel idea of a joke. Elsa's heart felt clogged, and painfully so. When dawn finally broke, Elsa fell onto the side of the box, gripped her child's hand firmly with her own trembling one, and cried.


	32. Part 7, Chapter 32

XXXII.

The royal guard on duty in the cemetery that morning was certainly surprised to find his queen weeping next to the exposed corpse of her son. He approached her carefully, half because she was crying, and half because there was ice on the ground forty feet in any direction on her.

"Your Majesty, are you all right?"

Elsa jumped and turned her back to the coffin, and for a fleeting moment tried to cover it up. She knew she couldn't, so she rubbed the tears from her eyes and accepted her circumstances. "Surprised to see me here?"

"Quite frankly, my queen, yes, I am."

Elsa sighed and looked at the coffin without daring to so much as glance at its contents. "Would you mind getting some men to put that back?"

"Not at all, Your Majesty. Should I go now?"

Elsa thought carefully before answering. "No, not yet. I need to talk to someone, and you're right here anyways…" She conjured up two simple chairs of ice and sat in one of them. "Take a seat."

The guard was overwhelmed. "Me, your Highness?"

Elsa looked around. "You're the only person I could have been talking to. You and Mikael, but I'm not that crazy. At least, I like to think I'm not… but of course, sane people don't go around trying to revive the dead, now do they?"

The guard sat excitedly and uncomfortably, but couldn't think of a proper way to respond to Elsa. It didn't matter, though; Elsa didn't need a responsive audience, just someone alive that she could use as an excuse to talk to – or, if the guard responded, with – Mikael.

"I suppose I should be punished, shouldn't I? Grave digging is a crime, after all, and right behind me is proof that I dug a grave. How long should I be imprisoned for this?"

The guard shifted awkwardly in his seat. "Your Majesty, I wouldn't like it very much if you were imprisoned."

"Should I be executed instead?"

The guard couldn't tell if she was joking or serious, and neither could she, so the guard assumed the worst. "No! Of course not, your Majesty! Of course not!"

"Then what? I can't go off scot free for committing such a crime. I won't allow it. And please, call me Elsa, you sound stiff."

"Your Majesty, you want me to call you Elsa?"

"I believe that's what I said, unless I am more out of my mind than I realize."

"Well, Elsa…" It was very unnerving to address the queen so casually, but those were her orders. "If you really want to know what I think, I think that the trauma from loosing a child, and the first child as well, should be punishment enough, if you are so intent on being reprimanded." The guard sat uneasily, waiting to see if he had at all stepped outside the lines, but Elsa was too deep in thought to notice him.

"But if anybody else loses a child, they would still be arrested for crimes they commit regardless of their level of trauma. A crime is a crime."

The guard couldn't bear to see his queen so distraught and so helpless right before his eyes. "If I may be so bold, Queen… Elsa, may I make a suggestion?" Elsa nodded her head slightly. "When I'm feeling down, usually some time alone makes me feel better. I can't imagine what it must feel like to outlive your own child, but a bit of quiet time in a quiet place usually works to better my mood for less serious depressions."

Elsa had another idea. It wasn't nearly as hair-brained and hopeless as the last one, but it wasn't exactly what she would have done to convince the world that she's mentally stable. "Alone time…" She could think of a certain room in a certain castle in which being alone had haunted her for thirteen years. But she could think of a different castle, or more of a palace, really, where she had the best alone time in her life. "You know what, you're right!" She stood up with purpose. "Tell Anna that she's in charge. I need to take a little break."

"Pardon?" the guard asked more for clarification and a formal order than out of misunderstanding of her intentions.

"I am going to leave the palace and my duties as queen for a while, just to get a few things off of my mind. Anna is temporarily queen of Arendelle, with all of the powers normally appointed to me, until either Erik or I return. Actually, here, wait…" Elsa grew a crystal sheet of ice-parchment and wrote down what she had just said on the document for formality. She handed it to the guard. "Give this to Anna."

"Queen Elsa, are you sure about this? What's happening right now?"

"Don't worry about it. Just give this to Anna, and have someone clean up this grave. And - what's your name?"

"Andreas, your Majesty," the guard stuttered.

"Thank you, Andreas, for your time. You don't know how much of a help you've been."

"M-my pleasure, Queen Elsa." He clutched the ice paper Elsa had given him with nervousness. He had to accept his mission now. Just as soon as he had replied, his queen made the ice around them vanish, and with an impressive burst of speed was running, running away from the castle and straight over the fjord to the North Mountain.

• • •

Elsa was amazed to see the ice palace still intact after seven years, but found the sight of it comforting nonetheless. She walked up the still solid ice staircase, repairing damage as she went. It was sort of odd to see the ice castle in a backdrop of greenery, but it was the type of greenery that fit a frigid mountaintop well, with pine trees and the like. Even though it wasn't winter, the air was still pleasantly brisk; Elsa took a deep breath to let it filter through her lungs. It was just as refreshing as she'd hoped it be.

The front doors were still perfectly intact. Elsa opened them with an odd realization; she had never opened those doors before. Or closed them, either. She was already inside the castle as it was being built, and was unconscious on the way out. This was the first time she was ever touching the doors she had created, and she was opening them.

The inside of the palace left a lot to be desired in terms of neatness. There were icicles sticking out from every visible surface, and the remains of the chandelier were still in the middle of the room, in the same place they were seven years ago. It made Elsa mad for a little bit, to have to run away from her present pain just to run into her past ones, but she got over it.

The past was in the past.

That was the thing about the signs of trouble in the ice palace; they were of a time long gone. Who was she even fighting? Hans, and those two cronies from Weselton? She couldn't even remember the two sidekicks' faces, and who even knew or cared what Hans was up to? It didn't matter, because that was over. It had been over for seven years.

The past was in the past.

Mikael was gone, but that happened so many months ago. About two, actually. And Erik was gone… but he left long ago also. It didn't really matter anymore. It didn't even matter if she was twisting her mind to force herself into thinking that the world was nifty and dandy.

But the kingdom outside of the ice palace wasn't covered in ice and snow. The shards of ice in the palace reminded Elsa of that; it was a lot better this time around. She even left Anna a note saying why she left, and what to do while she was gone.

A little smile found its way to Elsa's mouth. Anna knew where Elsa was, and that she wouldn't hurt her. Anna knew that she didn't have to go risking life and limb to track her down. Anna was back in Arendelle, calm and at peace as a wife to Kristoff, a mother to Pia, and an acting queen to Arendelle. Elsa didn't have to worry about Anna's safety at all.

Elsa started walking around the periphery of the central room, brushing any icicles in her path out of existence. She should remember to promote that guard or something, because he was right. This place just made her feel better, inexplicably but phenomenally better. It was like nothing was wrong, and anything that was didn't matter too much.

She was still smiling when she stumbled across a little golden thing on the ground. A little golden thing with a blue gem in the middle, still shiny after years in the frost…

Elsa brought her tiara up with a flurry of ice. It felt comfortably cold in her hands. She rubbed the frost off of the blue gem with her thumbs. It was still a perfectly good tiara, and there was no need to let it go to waste. After all, she wasn't the fledging queen of a people terrified of her ice powers anymore, but the experienced queen of a kingdom that embraced them wholeheartedly, with only the occasional man or woman who merely put up with them.

Elsa didn't have the heart to put the tiara on, but she didn't have the heart to let go of it, either. Instead, she sat down on the floor with her back to the wall, not bothering to make herself a chair. She stared at the ice for a while, and then at the tiara, and back at the ice.

All of her troubles were either left behind in time or left behind in space. Elsa was finally, maybe for the first time in her whole life, at peace. She probably shouldn't have been, with Erik lost and Mikael dead, but she was, and she didn't question it. She conjured up a frozen bed for herself, and finally found herself able to catch up on a night's worth of lost sleep. Actually, a whole life's worth of lost sleep.


	33. Part 7, Chapter 33

XXXIII.

Anna was one-half angry, one-half depressed, and one-half concerned when the letter from Elsa, written on a sheet of ice, came in. Yes, that makes three halves. It took three halves of Anna to read that sheet all the way through.

_To Anna, and whom else it may concern:_

_ I regret to inform you that I will be taking a short sabbatical in my reign as Queen. Before I proceed any farther, I will make it very clear that Anna is to be acting Queen until my return. All decisions she makes are as final as any that I would make myself, except for one. Do not come looking for me. I am perfectly safe, I assure you, and will return as soon as possible._

_ Queen Elsa of Arendelle_

That wasn't the part that knocked Anna out. That was all legal stuff. But at the bottom of the page, Elsa had written Anna a little personal note.

_P.S. Anna – Anna only, and no one else – I'm sorry I have to do this to you again. I just need some time and space to sort out everything about Erik and Mikael. Please understand. I need you to help me out here, and take care of Arendelle for a while so that I don't lose my mind. I know you'll do a great job, because you've done it once before. You probably know where I am, because you've looked for me there before. You don't have to come get me, though. I'll come back. And I'll try not to freeze the kingdom over this time._

_ An older child is supposed to teach the younger one about the wider world, but I think the reverse is true for us. Thank you, Anna, for being the sister I should have been for you._

That was the part that knocked Anna out. Elsa… looked _up_ to her? She had no idea. Why should Elsa look up to her? What did she ever do to deserve that? After all, it was Elsa who technically thawed the Great Freeze… that she also caused. Then, very suddenly, a completely different thought struck Anna when she looked back at the sheet.

"When did Elsa give you this?" she asked of the guard who had delivered the message.

"Just this morning, in the royal cemetery-"

"The royal cemetery?" Anna was genuinely confused. "What was she doing in the cemetery?"

The guard realized that he might have put Elsa in a compromising position, but he assumed that she had explained everything on the letter she wrote to Anna. "She… dug up Prince Mikael's grave."

"She wouldn't," Anna said uneasily. She would have, though. Elsa wasn't exactly holding herself together lately as much as Anna knew she could. Ever since Mikael died, in fact.

The guard didn't get the message. "I'm sorry, Princess Anna, but she did. I saw the aftermath with my own eyes, and Her Majesty even talked to me about it."

"She wouldn't!" Anna knew that she did. If she sent a guard to tell her about it… why didn't she say it in person? Elsa just dug up a grave and left, didn't she?

Then, Anna's thoughts were cut short by the patter of little feet coming her way.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Pia called excitedly as she ran over to Anna's side and tugged on her skirt. "Can you play with me in the garden, mommy? Please?"

Anna tried to put Elsa and the guard and Arendelle on hold. She was a mother before anything else, sometimes. And to such an adorable child, too, with her brilliant green eyes and button nose and strawberry blonde hair tied up into long pigtails that ran down her sides. Anna felt guilty any time Pia felt unhappy, as if it was her fault. But sometimes things got in the way of spending time with her daughter. "I'm sorry, Pia," she said with genuine sorrow, "but Auntie Elsa's gone on a little vacation, like Uncle Erik, and she's made me Queen until she comes back. I have to do official Queen stuff now."

Anna wished that Kristoff was there to see Pia's jaw drop. "_You're_ the Queen now?"

Anna glanced at Elsa's message. "I guess so."

Pia began bouncing up and down with giddy excitement. "Oh yay! Can I be Queen with you? Please? I wanna be Queen too!"

This wasn't a desire Pia usually had. "How come you never wanted to help Elsa be Queen?" Anna was seriously wondering, because Elsa never had Pia with her while she was working.

Pia stopped bouncing and put on a pout. "She never let me."

"Then do you think she would like it very much if I let you do that behind her back?" Anna didn't see what harm it would do be to have Pia tag along, but supposed that there was a reason that Elsa shut Pia out. She guessed from experience, of course. Ice powers ended up being a very intense secret, so who knew what being Queen would entail that might somehow scar Pia?

Pia shuffled her feet and looked down at them. "No," she mumbled dejectedly. It was very depressing to see a child so suddenly barred from having fun.

Anna had a brilliant idea just then. "Hey, Pia, why don't you go play with _daddy_ in the gardens?"

To Anna's relief, Pia cheered up immediately. "Oh yeah, I can play with daddy! Bye, mommy!" Pia quickly hugged Anna's legs and pattered out of the room in much the same excited fashion as she had walked in.

Anna stared after her daughter and listened to her footsteps patter until they faded away entirely, and the guard spoke up again. She had almost forgotten he was there.

"Princess Anna… should I go get Queen Elsa's schedule for today? You are Queen today, after all."

Right. She was Queen. For Elsa's sake, she had to take charge of the kingdom. "Yes, please do," Anna said in a very official sounding voice.

The guard left and came back before Anna had any time to let her mind wander. Anna read the schedule. Luckily enough, it was a very easy day as far as being Queen went, because there were only two things on there that were actual tasks.

_Her Royal Highness's Schedule, October 16:_

_ 9:30 a.m. – Meeting with the Board of the People_

_ 12:30 p.m. – Lunch_

_ 3:30 p.m. – Address Mail_

_ 7:00 p.m. – Supper_

There wasn't any mention of Elsa's family life on the schedule. Just two of her three meals and the stuff that really mattered in terms of ruling a kingdom. Anna could tell that Elsa had made the schedule herself, because the handwriting matched that on the ice-paper message Anna still had in her hands.

Soon enough, the clock struck nine, and Anna had to prepare herself to meet with the Board of the People as acting Queen.


	34. Part 7, Chapter 34

XXXIV.

The Board of the People was an interesting group. There was a farmer, and a banker, and a blacksmith, and a merchant, each one representing the needs of people in the same trade. When the Board was first established by Elsa seven years ago, it had very little power other than suggesting to Elsa what should be done to recover from the Great Freeze. As time went on, Elsa became caught up in family life and caring for her son and blindly approved of nearly every action the Board had decided to take. With this power to pass legislation, the Board of the People slowly gained control of some aspects of Arendelle law and commerce. It started with commercial minutia that Elsa shouldn't have been troubled with anyways, but grew to include just about every issue dealing with taxes, trade, and production in Arendelle. Though Anna didn't really know it at the time of her first meeting with the Board, it had become the most influential body in Arendelle's domestic political and economic scene.

Often, people would go directly to the Board instead of to Elsa to express any concerns about domestic policy. So often, in fact, that Elsa had all but stopped having days on which she would listen to the people's comments.

The Board of the People, or the Board, as it was usually referred to as, still consisted of ten members by the time of Anna's meeting with them. They had, amongst themselves, elected an unofficial President of the Board, who led the nine other members representing the nine other sectors of Arendelle society: the mother, the farmer, the shepherd, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the artisan, the merchant, the doctor, and the banker. However, it was impossible for Anna to differentiate them when she entered the meeting room, because they were all in cheap but reasonably classy professional attire.

"Princess Anna!" a man to her right exclaimed upon her arrival. "I wasn't expecting you to be here. We are about to have a meeting with Her Majesty the Queen."

Anna didn't feel like going into full detail about Elsa's letter. "Elsa couldn't make it, so I'm taking her place temporarily. Just pretend like I am the Queen."

The people wiggled around in their seats uncomfortably. It didn't look like many of them actually believed what Anna said, because Elsa never missed a meeting before. However, no one was in a position to defy a member of the royal family. Yet.

The man who had spoken before held out a hand and said, "I do not believe we've ever met, Princess, so please allow me to introduce myself. I am Vilhelm Steensen, President of the Board of the People. Most people know me, though, simply as President Steensen."

Anna shook his outstretched hand. He seemed like a nice fellow, an older, balding man with a gentle but strong voice that ordered you around and kept you safe at the same time. "Pleasure to meet you, President Steensen." Anna had no idea, of course, that Elsa refused to call him 'President,' and usually just addressed him as Steensen.

"Well, we could go around introducing everybody," Steensen said almost exclusively to Anna, "but we have a lot of material to cover. I suggest that every person introduces himself or herself the first time they speak, when the time comes."

The rest of the Board hummed in approval, so Anna accepted. "Okay, then, let's start." Anna tried to sound as authoritative as she could as she sat down in her oversized- Elsa's oversized chair. It was hard, though, in front of Steensen, to seem like you're in charge. "What first?"

"Usually at these meetings, Princess Anna, each member of the Board brings up specific issues concerning their particular demographic, and we all try to create meaningful policies that Elsa would be willing and able to implement. Today, however, we have a much broader and overarching problem to deal with, one that affects the whole of Arendelle." Steenson paused for dramatic effect. "The economy has been rubbish for years, and it's finally caught up with Arendelle."

The Board murmured in agreement. Honestly, though, Anna had no idea about the economy. Elsa dealt with that stuff like it was nothing. But Anna didn't want to sound stupid or inadequate, so she found a way to get more information. "Could the Board give me some specific examples? And introductions, also."

A man in the very back stood up. "Elias Waltersson, your Highness. I am a farmer. My farm has been producing a lot of crops in recent years, but I am unable to return a profit on them. Because I can't export any of my yield, I am forced to sell all of it in Arendelle for unreasonably low prices." He sounded very clean and educated, far more sophisticated than Anna expected from a farmer. He looked the way that he sounded; he was clean shaven, had neatly combed hair, and appeared to be around thirty years old. "I worry that this year, I will not even be able to turn a profit, and I may have to shut down my farm next year." He sat back down.

A woman rose next. "I am Terhi Rinne, representing the artisans. Professionally, I am a jeweler. There are some kingdoms that, unlike Arendelle, have very elaborate and ornate wedding traditions, which used to be a great source of business for me. But even though Arendelle has some of the finest gems and gold in the world, as any diplomat can attest to, I have been unable to sell even a wedding ring, because I can not send these products overseas." She sounded just as formal as the farmer had, and was dressed just as sharply, but the getup fit her profession better. She also was notably older; her hair was beginning to grey, and there was evidence of hip pain when she sat back down.

Like clockwork, another man stood up when the jeweler sat down. He sat much closer to Anna and was also a lot older. He had silvery hair and a wrinkly face, and wore an expression that made you wonder if somebody had died. "I am Harald Vanhanen, the merchant. Actually, I run a small fleet of merchant ships, which are supposed to move cargo internationally. As is probably clear to you by now, Princess Anna, my ships rarely have had to cargo to ship out of or into the kingdom for several years. I've already had to sell off two ships, and I'm afraid the fleet will be down to a single boat in two or three years' time." He held onto the armrests of his chair as he sat down.

Anna spoke before another person could give their whole life story away. There was one thing that the farmer, the artisan, and the merchant all said that confused Anna thoroughly. Even at the risk of sounding stupid, Anna needed answers, if only to avoid screwing up the kingdom for Elsa. "Why can't you all export things? Just trade with other countries, and all your problems will be solved."

Suddenly, the entire Board was staring at Anna with horror. They knew she might sound uninformed, but this? The Board was not only shocked, but they were mad, insulted, and a little annoyed. President Steensen sighed heavily. "You really don't know, Princess Anna? Has Elsa told you nothing of the embargo?"

Now that Anna was already exposed as politically ignorant, she could say whatever she wanted to. "No. What embargo? I thought Arendelle was all about free trade and stuff now."

"It was seven years ago," said another man in the front. He was middle aged and sort of wide and, unlike half the men in the room, had a full, thick, black beard. He sounded gruff and looked like he really wanted a cigar. "But then Queen Elsa got into foreign policy, and she got scared. Allow me to explain, Princess Anna. I am banker Erling Niequist, and I know a great deal about the economy. Queen Elsa thought every other kingdom was another Weselton or Southern Isles or Fordane in disguise, and thoughtlessly began rolling out isolationist policies that, over time, cumulated to be, in effect, an embargo on all other countries. The Board has tried to create financial stability within the country, as per Queen Elsa's wishes, but to no avail. There needs to be international trade, Princess Anna, for Arendelle to succeed." He raised his voice there at the very end, like he was getting involved in a very intense debate. President Steensen called him out on it.

"Watch your tongue there, Mr. Niequist. This is the royal family you're talking about so harshly, and your own queen." Steensen turned apologetically to Anna. "I'm sorry for Mr. Niequist's animation, but he has some more… extreme thoughts about the government. His final point is true, though, Princess Anna. The embargo needs to end as soon as possible to save Arendelle financially, and as acting Queen, you are the only one with final authority to do that." He said then, very casually, "Will you let us abolish the embargo as we see fit?"

Anna really wasn't too experienced in politics. So little did she know, in fact, that she couldn't even foresee the consequences of the next few words she said. "Of course you may. If it's for the sake of Arendelle, then of course you may."

Anna's first action as Queen, unknown to Anna and, to an extent, Elsa herself, was something that Elsa had been trying to avoid for years. The Board of the People was now a juggernaut that had foot in the door in foreign affairs.


	35. Part 7, Chapter 35

XXXV.

After a very light an uneventful lunch, Anna found herself with a lot of time and not a lot to do. Pia was still out playing with Kristoff and, it was safe to assume, Olaf and Sven, and Anna wouldn't have to check the mail for another few hours. Anna called on her experience as a child of having nothing to do and did the first thing that came to mind: wander the castle and enter the parlor if it happened to cross her path. The one with all the paintings in it.

However, there was a closer room that grabbed Anna's interest. These days, the room was always either empty or not to be disturbed. Whenever Elsa was in there, she was either asleep or emotionally unstable, and didn't want to be bothered in any case. Anna had only gone in there a handful of times in the last seven years. Historically, it was more or less Elsa's prison, and Anna had been shut out entirely. But now, Elsa was gone, and there was no reason for Anna not to look around a bit.

She entered and cautiously let the doors squeak shut behind her. As she made her way to Elsa's bedside, she was slightly disappointed to find the place wholly underwhelming. The bed and the dresser, the side table and lamp and chest in the corner… it was all very ordinary. Anna had only been in here a few times before, and was focused on Elsa and nothing else when she had. However, now that she could just look at the room itself, nothing stuck out as exciting.

Nothing, that is, until Anna spotted a little green book with gold and purple designs on Elsa's side table. She had never noticed it before, but for some reason, she had this time. She picked it up to examine it closer, and read the single word on the cover.

_Diary_

Oh… Anna remembered getting one just like this years ago, around the time she was thirteen years old. Embarrassingly, she had lost the book less than a year after receiving it… could this be it? There was only one way to find out.

Anna cracked the hard cover open and noticed that no dust fell from the book. It must have been used recently. She read the name written in a familiar handwriting on the inside cover.

_Elsa_

Of course. It was Elsa's room, after all. It made perfect sense that Elsa's diary would be in Elsa's room. And, because it was not her own diary, Anna was about to put it back where it was out of respect for Elsa's privacy. However, she caught a glimpse of the first entry and stopped dead in her tracks.

_Dear Anna,_

Not 'Dear Diary.' Elsa wasn't talking to a diary. She was writing directly to Anna herself. Anna told herself that it gave her the right to read on, since the entry was addressed to her and all.

_Dear Anna,_

_ I got this diary from mom and dad today, and decided immediately that it wasn't going to be for me. It's for you, Anna. I mean, what use is it to write to myself how I'm doing? I already know how I'm doing, because I'm me. And saying 'Dear Diary' every time? What use is it to talk to a book? In short, Anna, I want to talk to a real person about certain things. Things I can't say to you yet, or even mom or dad sometimes._

_ Sorry that this is the closest I'll ever come to actually talking to you. With no barriers in the way, I mean. You'll probably be really old when you read this, too, and I'll probably be dead. But the main thing is that _you_ read it, and know that I really do love you, Anna, whether or not my inability to be a good sister shows it._

_ I'm going to have to save the rest for a later date, Anna, because I'm afraid I'll freeze the page off if I try writing anymore. You might or might not know about my curse already, but I'll tell you all about it eventually. Someday._

_ Love,_

_ Elsa_

Anna fell flat onto Elsa's bed, lying on her back. Whether or not Elsa had meant for her to read that so soon… it was too late. Anna had already started, and there was no way she was stopping there. She turned onto her stomach and reread bits and pieces.

_It's for you, Anna._

She said it herself. Anna was supposed to read her diary. Elsa would not only be okay with it; she actively wanted it to happen.

_Sorry that this is the closest I'll ever come to actually talking to you._

Well, wasn't that obsolete? The question was not as rhetorical as would have made Anna comfortable. Sure, they'd had a lot of chats and all ever since the Great Freeze… but the diary wasn't dusty. There were still fairly recent things that Elsa wanted to tell her, and couldn't say to her face.

_You'll probably be really old when you read this, too, and I'll probably be dead._

Thank God, Elsa was nowhere near dead. Most likely. And Anna was pretty old, wasn't she? Twenty-five years was a long time to be a person, and she had a kid and a husband and everything.

_I'll tell you all about it eventually. Someday._

Anna prepared herself to read on. Not just that page, but the rest of the diary, too. The whole thing. It had content almost all the way to the back cover, and Anna was going to go through every page. Elsa said she would tell Anna everything someday. Well, today was going to be that day, whether Elsa knew it or not.


	36. Part 7, Chapter 36

XXXVI.

Anna sat on her sister's bed for the next several hours. It would be expected that, after a while, all the entries would start swimming together, and Anna would want to stop reading. However, this was not remotely the case. It was evident that Elsa wrote in her diary far less frequently than most would with such a journal, which meant that there was always something worth reading on the page. Some entries, in particular, stuck out like icicles.

• • •

_Dear Anna, _

_ Happy birthday, first of all. You are fifteen years old now, I think. Fifteen! What an exciting year it must be for you. I wouldn't know, of course. All my years are pretty much the same. But you will get to do things, so many things, now that you're fifteen. I can only imagine how happy you must be._

_ In case you've forgotten, you knocked on my door today. Naturally, I couldn't come out. I don't think I ever can, for your safety. But I did wish you a very happy birthday. I think you found that inadequate, and I don't blame you. It was. I don't even know what you look like, for crying out loud, and I'm supposed to celebrate… you? How does a person even do that? Celebrate the fact that someone was born, I mean._

_ This is kind of a downer, which is why I'm not telling you this now, on your actual birthday. Hopefully it's not your birthday when you do actually read this._

_ I can't understand how someone is supposed to celebrate the fact that I was born. What have I done to deserve that? Almost kill you? Sometimes… I think it would be better if I was never born._

_ You would have been safe. Always. You wouldn't have had to worry about me being all locked up in my room, or freezing your head off, for that matter. Neither would mom or dad. Everyone's lives would have been so perfect without me. If I was out of the equation entirely._

_ I'm going to be brutally honest here, Anna. You're the only reason I haven't 'taken myself out of the equation,' if you will. I know I always sound annoyed when you try and get me to leave my room, and you always sound frustrated or sad when I reject you. As you should. But really, I'm not annoyed at all. Every time you ask to play with me, it reminds me that you care about me. You actually care that I live on as your big sister. Thank you._

_ Keep on knocking,_

_ Elsa_

• • •

_Dear Anna,_

_ I am freaking out right now, Anna. There's not even a week left. I'm getting married._

_ Of course I'm getting married, Anna. I'm eighteen. That's when these things are supposed to happen. But not for me! I can't get married! Who knows how the guy will be? What if he's a jerk? What if he makes me do things to hurt you or dad or mom? Or what if he's a nice guy, and I hurt him?_

_ Oh, Anna, there are so many 'what if's. You know why? I've never even met the guy before! I know they can't help it, because it's tradition, but mom and dad are marrying me off to a complete stranger. All I know about him is that he is Prince Erik of Fordane. That's literally it._

_ Anna, I'm scared. I have no idea what's going to happen next, and that terrifies me more than anything else. I have no control over what's about to happen. Marriage and all, I mean. I have no clue and no power; things will just happen around me. Like what happened to you after I shot you in the head. I had no control after that point on whether you would live or die. It terrified me. I hated it._

_ In the same way, I dread the thought of my wedding. It's in less than a week. You'll get to see me, for a change. Very briefly, but still, you will. But I won't be comfortable, or happy, or remotely at ease. I'll be spending all my energy concealing my ice, and even more either loving or hating or fearing the groom._

_ Wish me peace, or luck at least,_

_ Elsa_

• • •

_Dear Anna,_

_ Please disregard my last entry. I have no idea what the heck I was saying. Married some Prince Erik of Fordane? I checked; that guy doesn't even exist. Fordane only has one heir, and his name is not Erik. I'm not married. At least, I didn't get married like I said I would._

_I don't remember getting married, so I don't think I ever did. I remember being apprehensive about something, and talking to someone in a way that made me feel relieved… but I don't remember to whom I was talking. I'm afraid to ask mom and dad, because maybe I was doing something behind their backs and had my memory wiped clean in the process, somehow. Who knows? You might, but you probably don't. I couldn't ask you now without being a burden on your life, anyways._

_Nothing else has changed, then. I'm still in my room, as always, trying not to freeze the world over. If you'll pardon the pun, I'm keeping my cool. You like puns, don't you? I always imagine you as the type of person who would like puns._

_Stay happy,_

_Elsa_

• • •

_Dear Anna,_

_I want to build a snowman, Anna, I really do. I want to give you the warmest hug you've ever had, and build a snowman with you, and everything. Especially now that mom and dad are dead. _

_They're really gone, aren't they? You're not just telling me things – not that I think you would. It's just that… there's no one left. Not a single person left to protect you, and Arendelle, from me. I have to pull myself together all on my own._

_That, and they are… you know… parents. I had a list of three people that I really loved, and who loved me back, and who I would never want to be hurt. Now that list is one person long. You, Anna, are really the only human being that matters to me, myself included._

_I don't have to tell you that I'm sad. You know that for yourself. You don't have to tell me that you're sad, either; I heard you through the door. I heard every word, Anna. Every word you've ever said to me, I heard. I want to make sure you know that. _

_I really want to build a snowman with you, Anna. More than any other thing in the world, except one – keeping you safe. Like you're right out there for me, Anna, I'm right in here for _you_. For your sake. _

_But I have to confess something. No matter how much I tell myself that locking myself up is for the greater good, I can't help but want to actually be your sister, and spend time with you. I just don't want you to go away before I can-_

Anna couldn't read the rest of the entry. It was all a streaky mess from then on, as if Elsa had smeared the ink with her hands. Any tears would have been solid ice; they couldn't have done anything. Anna glanced to the backside of the previous page and noticed a patch of ink symmetrical to the one on the actual diary page. Elsa must have unknowingly rubbed her hand on the page, and she must have closed it while the ink was still wet.

• • •

_Dear Anna, _

_ Remember a couple years ago (at least from the time that I am writing this) when I told you I was scared, about a marriage that was never even going to happen? Well, now I'm actually scared. My coronation is tomorrow._

_ Of course, you know it's tomorrow. I can hear your excitement a mile away, and it crushes me to think about it. For the first time ever since mom and dad died, I'll have to go out in the world… and not expose anything. My ice, I mean. How am I supposed to contain it in front of a crowd of thousands of people? My powers grow stronger by the day, and I feel like I'm going to spill it all tomorrow like a sack of beans._

_ I don't want to let it go. Everyone will find out. Even you will know, and then no one will be safe. I can't just lock myself up after e secret is out. I could seriously hurt someone… like I did to you so many years ago. I don't want that to have to happen. I really don't._

_ Oh Anna, what am I going to do? … Do you want to build a snowman? I wish that's all I had to worry about._

_ I've been writing so much about me lately, with my coronation and all, that I want to talk about you now. Just because I have to conceal doesn't mean that you do. Hopefully, I won't get in the way of letting you enjoy the wider world – freely._

_ Live life well,_

_ Elsa_

• • •

_ Dear Anna,_

_ Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I don't even know what to say to you anymore, because you know everything now. You know about my ice powers, and about how dangerous they could have been, and about how much I love you. And I know things, too, that you taught me. Like how to thaw, or see the good in myself again. There's really nothing left to say, is there?_

_ Is there?_

_ I mean, today's been a long day. Ending the Great Freeze (granted, I caused it) really was quite draining. But here I am, writing to you about seemingly nothing. I thought that we had shared everything we needed to in person. But apparently, I still feel like I'm hiding something from you. Or the other way around. I don't know what, though._

_ I think I'm waiting for you to tell me something. And believe be, you'll know my reaction, whether it be in person or through text._

_ Open up,_

_ Elsa_

• • •

Anna would have kept reading if she could. She was getting into the juicy part of the diary, what Anna considered subconsciously as 'modern Elsa history.' In other words, the seven years after the Great Freeze. She would have kept reading, if it wasn't for a burly man bursting very suddenly through the doors.

"There you are!" Kristoff said in a voice that was startlingly loud to Anna. She had, after all, spent the last few hours in perfect silence. The noise was a shock.

"What?" Anna jumped up from the bed and found herself awkwardly standing with a knee on the bed and a foot on the ground. Elsa's diary dangled suspiciously from her hands, still open to the page she was on.

"Everybody's looking for you!" Kristoff began gesticulating wildly with his hands. "You have queenly duties and stuff to do now, Anna! I think you're about an hour late for…" Kristoff slowed down as he moved closer to Anna. He pointed to the book in Anna's hands. "Is that what I think it is?"

"What do you think it is?" Anna tried to cover up the book a little with her sleeve. It was futile.

"Elsa's diary?" Kristoff asked, and then realized Anna's affirmation. "You've been reading her diary?" He sounded surprised more than anything else. "Why?"

"It's addressed to me," Anna responded simply. She didn't want to elaborate. She just wanted to get back to reading.

Kristoff held up his hands. Anna had come off as defensive and cross to Kristoff. "Okay, okay, Anna. This is obviously between Elsa and you; it's none of my business. Anyways, you have to respond to the mail and all. You know, as temporary queen."

Anna just stood where she was, gripping Elsa' diary.

Kristoff held out his hand. "C'mon, I'll walk with you to Elsa's study. You've got a fat stack of mail waiting for you there." He couldn't tell if Anna's expressionless face was due to being lost in thought or being lost in sadness, so he smiled to cheer her up just incase.

Anna internally sighed and put Elsa's diary back on her side desk. She would have to finish it some other time. Now, she had to stop listening to Elsa from the past, and start helping out Elsa from the present.

And of course, in due time, she would have to deal with Elsa of the future. Unknown to Anna, that due time was a lot sooner than expected. That very day, in fact.


	37. Part 7, Chapter 37

XXXVII.

"Here we are!" Kristoff presented Elsa's study to Anna when they had finally reached it. The walk had been a fairly silent one, because Anna was still in a sort of stupor from reading Elsa's diary. She kept thinking about it, and its peculiarities, such as the fact that Elsa signed off with a different goodbye on each entry. Very peculiar peculiarities, indeed.

"We are?" Anna had to stop thinking about that diary now.

"Umm… yeah…" Kristoff was certain that Anna knew where she was physically. Mentally, not so much. "Are you okay, Anna? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Anna assured him. "It's just that-" Anna stopped abruptly.

Kristoff was listening intently, like a perfect gentleman. "It's just that what?"

"It's just that a diary is a very profound thing to read, and Elsa's is stuck in my head."

Kristoff gestured to the nifty pile of envelopes sitting on Elsa's desk. "Well, maybe a little busywork will get your mind off of things. I know that always works for me, when I'm stuck on something. How about it?"

Anna stared at Kristoff blankly for a while, and then very suddenly hugged him. "Thank you, Kristoff."

Pleasantly surprised, Kristoff chuckled. "Thank me for what?" he asked as he returned Anna's hug.

They broke apart, and Anna took a step back to look him straight in the eyes. "You're a wild man, Kristoff, but you know just when a person needs something tamer."

Kristoff didn't respond, because he really wasn't expecting that. As far as he was concerned, he was just doing what friends do, not to mention husbands. When he finally said something, it was very unromantic. "So… you'll check the mail, then?"

Anna smiled anyways. "Yes, I will. And I'll see you at dinner." She dismissed him with a peck on the cheek.

It was only after Kristoff had left that she realized something rather important: what did she have to do, exactly? Did checking the mail just mean reading it all, or would she have to actually respond to something? She glanced at the overwhelming pile on Elsa's desk, and decided to just grab the one on top, read it, and move on from there. Little did she know, but that first letter would prevent her from reading any other ones.

To Anna, it was an unpresuming letter with a round wax seal. The seal looked like a royal seal, like for something official, but it wasn't Arendelle's seal. Anna broke it, and began reading the letter to herself. It would have been eerily familiar, that letter, to its intended target, Elsa. However, it had no trouble impacting Anna in just the same way.

_Dearest Queen Elsa,_

_ I'm sure you're wondering where your husband is. Well, I have some good news for you, then. I know exactly where he is; he's in the Kingdom of Fordane. I want to believe he left Arendelle merely to do some peaceful research on his family history._

_The sad truth is, though, that Erik, being as he is allied with Arendelle, cannot be trusted. As far as I know, Erik could be collecting intelligence about me instead of about his past. Therefore, I have no choice but to imprison him. I may have him executed tomorrow if he admits to treason to his native Kingdom of Fordane, which I'm sure he will with a little torture here and there. _

_Unless, of course, you give me reason to think otherwise, and save your husband's life._

_Say hi to Anna for me, will you?_

_-Queen Isabella_

When Anna finally lifted her eyes from the sickening page, the true reason for Erik's extended absence slowly filtered through her brain. He wasn't just staying longer in his homeland; he physically could not come back. He was, for the second time in his life, in prison. And from the sound of it, the reasons were a lot more far-fetched this time.

The thing that got Anna to move was this harsh realization upon rereading the letter: Queen Isabella may have Erik executed? He could die, couldn't he? And Elsa wasn't there to-

Elsa! Anna needed to show this to Elsa immediately, so she could act on it. This wasn't a queenly matter; it was a family matter. Anna raced out of the study and towards the stables. The whole way she was panicked, and muttering to herself, "Elsa, I'm coming."


	38. Part 7, Chapter 38

XXXVIII.

Elsa awoke, quite to her surprise, to a tall man gently gripping her shoulder. She jumped immediately onto her feet, causing the man to stumble backwards in shock. Within the span of a second, Elsa was standing at ready, and the man was panting and clutching his chest.

"For the love of God, woman, you nearly gave me a heart attack there!" The man managed to say between heavy breaths.

Elsa was embarrassed to be found like this, sleeping in the middle of nowhere and cuddling with a tiara. She had been in such a vulnerable position that the man could have – or already have – done just about anything he wanted to. She kept her hands up high. "Who are you?" she demanded, "and how did you find me here?"

The man's answer was either cryptic beyond Elsa's understanding or a complete joke. "My name's not important right now, and I just happened to find you here."

Joke was more likely. Or was he a criminal, trying to save himself from prosecution? "I mean it. Who are you?" Elsa formed a little icicle dagger in her right hand to make herself more intimidating. "Do you know who I am?"

"I believe you're Elsa," The man said casually. "Am I wrong?"

Elsa made the dagger in her hand longer. "That's _Queen_ Elsa to you. I'll ask you one last time." Elsa grit her teeth and took a menacing step forwards. "Who are you?"

"That's not importan-"

"Name yourself!" Elsa began cornering the man into a wall. The man backed up to keep pace, but didn't look frightened at all.

"I am whatever you want to call me. I am whomever you want me to be."

Elsa had him pressing his back against the wall by now. She made the ice spring out and cuff his wrists and ankles, locking his securely in place. She pointed her ice dagger at him. "Listen, whoever you are. I am your _Queen_. If I ask you what your name is, then you tell me what your name is. Unless." The dagger approached his neck. "Unless you've got something to hide…"

"I've got nothing to-"

"You were trying to kill me, weren't you?" Elsa was jumping to conclusions, but at this point it was a serious possibility. Why else would he try and hide his name like that? "You were waiting until I was asleep and alone, and then you were going to-"

"Elsa!" The man finally was able to interrupt Elsa, for a change. "_Queen_ Elsa," he added reluctantly. "I wasn't going to hurt you. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a friend, and much, much more."

Elsa noticed something odd for the first time, when her initial panic inexplicably cooled down for an instant. The man looked kind of like… Erik. Same face, with the same red eyes. And just to check, she glanced over at his left hand.

"What?" asked the man when Elsa gasped and covered her mouth with her hand, dropping the dagger in the process.

"Erik?" Elsa looked at the man with an expression other than anger for the first time. "Is it…" Elsa rechecked the features that made him look like Erik. Missing left hand – check. Red eyes – check. Missing left hand… wait a second. What? Elsa could have sworn – but there it was, clear as day. The man had a left hand.

"Yes and no," the man who was or was not Erik replied. "If you want me to be Erik, then I am. If you don't, then I'm not. Anybody else on your mind?"

Elsa began seeing freckles on the man's face. His hair was longer and his features were rounder than Elsa had first thought they were, and he was actually shorter than – he? Elsa recoiled in horror as she realized that the being in front of her was a woman. One that looked eerily like Anna.

"Thinking about your sister?" The creature – there was no better word for it now, in Elsa's mind – was officially disturbing. Elsa shook her head vigorously, but it was still there. "It's okay if you're confused, Elsa. I understand."

Elsa was speechless, and displayed her unease by backing away slowly but surely, sprouting icicles in the space between herself and Anna – the creature, actually. Not Anna.

"Now I think you understand what I mean when I say that I am whomever you want me to be. I really am." Suddenly, its features grew more and more childlike; its eyes turned brown, and it became shorter still, until it bared a ghastly resemblance to Mikael. Yes, it was ghastly in the sense that it was unsettlingly accurate, but even more than that, it was Mikael in the form that Elsa had most lately seen him. A month and a half old decomposing corpse.

Elsa began scuttling away faster and faster away from the thing, and it felt like she was running away from her son, naturally.

"Don't go, mommy," Mikael called to Elsa as the space between them widened and became populated with spikes. "You need me."

The fear that had been bubbling inside of Elsa's heart ever since the thing looked like Erik finally rose to the surface. She shot ice in every direction, aimlessly, to get away from the son and the sister and the husband who were haunting her all at once. She broke into a sprint for the door, because even the ice palace was not a virgin to the troubles of her personal life anymore. The place had lost its luster, and instead of curing Elsa, twisted her mind even farther. So she bolted through the doors and out of the palace.

Out of the palace, and right into Anna. At least, something that looked like Anna. Elsa couldn't be sure.

When Elsa collected herself enough to speak intelligible words, she used them in the most defensive and probable context possible. "Get away from me!"

Anna, who had been wearing an expression of unimaginable urgency, quickly and silently dropped into a silent, confused hurt. "Elsa, no, I have to tell you something-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Elsa backpedaled into the ice palace and slipped inside, locking what she thought was the creature outside. She checked the walls. The cuffs were empty; the creature really had escaped then, and it really was locked outside. Elsa breathed a sigh of relative relief and slumped down with her back to the door.

She heard Anna do the same on the opposite side. An Anna who was possibly an imposter. There was a knock, and then, "Elsa?"

Elsa didn't reply. If it was the creature, then she didn't want to talk to it, and if it was actually Anna… well, Elsa hoped that it wasn't actually Anna.

"Elsa, please, I know you're in there."

Elsa prepared herself and kept listening.

"I have something important to tell you. It's from Queen Isabella, of Fordane."

The word Fordane rang in Elsa's head like a bell. Erik was there. Presumably. But maybe the creature was just plucking at her heartstrings, and tricking her into opening the door… "Prove you're Anna," Elsa demanded.

"What?" Anna might have expected that Elsa would be uncompromising or stubborn, but this just seemed ludicrous to her.

"Prove that you're Anna," Elsa restated. She had to know, before she was haunted by the spirit of Elsa past again, that the person outside was her real sister. It was as simple as that, Elsa told herself.

Anna sighed audibly. "What do you want me to do, Elsa? Ask if you want to build a snowman? You already did – Olaf, remember? And he misses you. And Pia and Kristoff and me especially, we all miss you. But that's not the reason I came here." There was a sound of crinkling paper. "I seriously have a letter from the Queen of Fordane, about Erik, and how he could die."

Elsa held in a gasp. The creature was perfectly capable of saying that to lure her out, but it sure was a great lure. "Prove you're Anna," Elsa managed.

Elsa guessed that Anna was grabbing at her hair in frustration. "Elsa, I'm serious!" Anna lowered her voice substantially and complied with Elsa's absurd requirement. "You know, this letter is so important for you to read, that I stopped reading your diary to tell you about it."

Her diary? Elsa stomach filled with lead. There were only three people who knew that the thing even existed, and two, her parents, were dead. Besides herself, no one should even know that she had a diary. Unless Anna had gone into her room…

"I didn't get all the way through it, like I said, but I was lost in it for hours. I guess you know now that I kind of went in your room and just started reading… sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Elsa finally spoke to the person who she was fairly confident was her actual sister.

Anna continued. "I don't really know what you're too afraid to tell me right now, because I didn't get to the recent stuff." She chuckled uneasily. "Boy, were you obsessed with telling me to be free. You just kept telling me to be free, all the while being bound up yourself. Well, Elsa, I did that for my entire childhood, and you know what? Being free is no fun if there's nobody to be free with. Sure, now I have Kristoff and Pia, but I still need you. And since Erik is gone, you really need the three of us. I think that's why you wanted to be isolated again; you felt alone, so you confirmed your loneliness. You couldn't do anything else about it. Well, I'm telling you that you can, Elsa. You can _do _things to make life better." Anna wrinkled her paper. "And it starts with reading this letter. Trust me, you need to face your past and face your present and get your family back, and the best way for you to do that is to read this. Just let me in."

Anna hit the nail on the head. In fact, she drove it into the wood entirely in one strike, and then some, so that there was a little divot in Elsa's mind. Elsa picked herself up by the nape of her overwhelmed conscience's neck, and opened the door up to her sister.

Instead of a hug, she got a teary eyed and panicked face, and a letter thrust in front of her. Elsa read it, and each passing word filled her with dread. It was familiar, far too familiar, to the letter she had received when Anna was kidnapped. Which meant that Erik was…

Within one second, Elsa had a sense of purpose once again, and could push her emotional issues aside for the sake of a loved one. Within ten seconds, she was grabbing Anna by the wrist and marching towards Fordane, ignoring entirely the horse on which Anna had arrived. Within one minute, Elsa was in full sprint for the sea, sliding on an icy path, with Anna trailing behind. Within ten minutes, she was in the water in a boat made of ice, and Anna's and Erik's roles were essentially the opposite of what they had been seven years prior. Within a few hours, they were, once again in the most unfavorable conditions imaginable, on the shores of Fordane.

It was only with her clear purpose that Elsa realized that the creature, which had haunted her for all of a few minutes, had been a figment of her imagination. She brushed that aside, though, along with the fact that she was still in nothing but a nightgown, to save her husband's life.

Hopefully, not with the same outcome as when she had saved her sister's seven years ago. Hopefully.

*****Author's Note*****

**This is the end of Part 7. In Part 8, I'll get back to Erik, and the first person point of view, but I could really use some reviews before writing the whole thing. Seriously, they help me out a lot. The story might end if Part 8 (or 9), so I don't want to screw it up…**

**I'll be back A.S.A.P, but no promises as to a date.**


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